Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis na finnéithe go léir as ucht a dtaithí a roinnt. Níl ach cúig nóiméad agam so I will try to be quick. Mr. Broderick is only short of being a candlestick maker. That is the story of many retailers throughout the country. I was touched by the cost side and will go straight to the solar element because that makes a lot of sense. I come from a green background but find that with the way the tariffs are organised with the smart tariffs, it has to be operated very carefully or else those costs can kick in. I would be interested to hear from Mr. Cummins and Ms O'Meara. Do they think they will make a saving in ten years' time as opposed to during the energy crisis now? How confident of that would they be?

I will move to the restaurant side and ask Mr. Cummins and Mr. Collender a devil's advocate question. The cost of reducing VAT to 9% again for just food and catering services is estimated to be just short of €700 million. If they were the Minister, do they think it would be better to invest that €700 million into the restaurant sector rather than cut the VAT rate? The fear is, and this is not necessarily my personal view, that it would just go back into profits, in some cases, rather than actually keeping restaurants viable. More information about how that money would help to keep the restaurant sector going and create jobs would be useful for this committee.

In regard to Ms Magnier, the point about the employers' PRSI rebate and the threshold makes a lot of sense. I have a few questions about the barriers to finance. What is Ms Magnier's view on the potential for an enhanced role for credit unions, for example? There are already Microfinance Ireland supports through the local enterprise offices, LEOs. Has that been helpful and how could it be spread out more? Where are the problems in getting that type of support?

I have questions for Ms Buckley, Ms O'Meara and Mr. Broderick about shoplifting. It is a bugbear of mine and I have been calling for consequences, including fines for parents, curfews, the taking-away of PlayStations and community service with the Tidy Towns, for all sorts of antisocial behaviour. One of the big ones, besides 12- to 15-year-olds attacking kids who are slightly younger than them or attacking parents with buggies and intimidating people, is shoplifting. In my constituency, within half a mile from where I live, one Insomnia café has had people steal bottles of water and then throw the water at the staff. Another retailer has had people come in - these are slightly older individuals - do the honcho, threaten to hit someone, just grab stuff and walk out. These are not even the commercial-type thieves who do the rounds. There was a call previously for a community courts-type system where we could have that sharp shock and some sort of restorative justice and consequences. Would Ms Buckley, Ms O'Meara and Mr. Broderick support that? I think it was a Dublin business institute that called for this and a survey was done more recently by some academics, but it got nowhere. With the best will in the world, we will not have sufficient gardaí to deal with stuff on time.

In regard to the defamation side of things, how common is it that people make false claims by pretending to steal versus actually shoplifting and walking out with impunity? That seems to be the bigger issue, but you cannot lay a finger on someone. Would Ms Buckley, Ms O'Meara and Mr. Broderick like security staff to have powers to be able to detain people pending the Garda being called, for example, or have more powers, because I know some people try to do this in the bigger areas?