Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate that. This is an issue I raised with the Minister's predecessor, so we would welcome progress on this and I understand that the Minister is not overpromising.

Turning to page 56 of the overview, this refers to the retail sector and highlights its importance to the economy, which is welcome. Unfortunately, though, we know this sector has suffered several body blows during the last 24 months. I refer to the tactical liquidation of Debenhams, the closure of Top Shop, what happened with the Arcadia Group and, most recently, Argos. During this time, the Minister's predecessor, and that of the current Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, articulated the view that retail was simply changing. I do not appreciate this view at all. I think we should fight for these jobs and for the presence of retail on our main streets as bringing a bit of life and vibrancy there.

Notwithstanding that the landscape in this regard is changing, I would like to hear the Minister's views regarding establishing a task force on the future of retail, to include representatives of trade unions, employer bodies, local authorities and others to come up with a detailed plan on how we might salvage bricks-and-mortar traditional retail jobs. This is something the Mandate trade union had sought and other representative groups would be very much up for having this conversation as well.