Mr. Pat Doyle:

On the VAT, I agree that it sounds simplistic. It is difficult to have different VAT rates in different areas. However, we have it in the hospitality sector, for example. What I am particularly interested in is on the repair and lease and the second-hand over-the-shop stuff. We have caps from Government of €60,000, but that includes all of that. We could put much more into the unit. For example, the majority of the money that was available in this scheme could go into the unit rather than having to put some of it into VAT that goes back and it is circular. In other jurisdictions, such as the UK, for example, it is 5% for bringing back dereliction and over-the-shop and stuff like that. It might just encourage that.

Finally, the reason the over-the-shops have not been developed inside the canal is because every one of them is an individual application and it takes time. Some of us are doing it and are prepared to put that time into it, but if we are going to encourage more to do it, we need to be able to do it in bundles and streets. For example, there needs to be a scheme for a specific street so that we can do it more quickly with five or six over-the-shops together, rather than doing each one separately.