Mr. Glyn Roberts:

It is good to see Deputy Feighan and Senator Currie again. There was quite a lot in their questions. What we need to achieve is to consider how the Northern Ireland Executive does its programme for Government. Committee members will be familiar with the fact that the first thing the current Fine Gael, Green Party and Fianna Fáil Government did was to agree a programme for Government and then doled out the ministries. In the North, we do it the other way around. That has led to disjoined policy, a silo mentality and a lack of collective, joined-up government. It is good that the head of the Civil Service in Northern Ireland, Ms Jayne Brady, is engaging with the political parties on what a programme for Government in a restored Executive would look like. It is not just the policy we need to change. We must also change how we do policy in Northern Ireland. We in the business community do not want to be merely consultees. We want to be partners. A good example of the work of the previous Assembly and Executive was the high street task force, of which I was one of the chairs. Mr. Neill was also a member of that task force. We produced an agreed 14-point plan. It was not just agreed by the five political parties at Stormont.

It was also signed up to by some 33 business, trade union and voluntary sector organisations, so Northern Ireland can do "joined up". More importantly, it is about co-design, and "co-design" is maybe the one key word in our restored Executive. It is co-design between not just business but civic society, and Northern Ireland is well served by its strong civic society.

On the point about the cost of business, we in Northern Ireland are not just experiencing a cost-of-living crisis. It is a crisis in the cost of doing business as well. It is not just the energy stuff that is a challenge but it is also business rates. We pay the highest business rates in the UK by a country mile, and we were particularly alarmed by the reports this week that the Treasury wants us to increase our business rates by another 15%. That is just bonkers, to even consider such an idea when businesses are closing because they cannot afford to pay their rates bills. Reforming business rates has to be a number one priority, and that is something that an Assembly Executive can do.

Quite often we forget that it is not just the Assembly Executive that is down. The North-South bodies have not been able to function for quite some time as well, so they need to be re-energised and refocused when Stormont is restored. In saying that, despite those cross-Border bodies being down, our members are getting on and doing their trade cross-Border. Many of our members' staff in Border areas come from the other side of the Border. Our members' customers come from there. There is no such thing a Border when it comes to retail on the island of Ireland. They have been getting on and doing it, and I hope they are making a contribution to the economy. Let us not forget that retail is not just the largest sector in Northern Ireland; it is the largest sector on this island. Back in 2016 and 2017, with our colleagues in Retail Excellence Ireland, we produced an all-Ireland retail policy priorities document. That might be something we need to update at some point in the future.