Ms Jean McCabe:

To give the context in terms of the Department of enterprise, Retail Excellence Ireland is part of the retail forum with the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon. We are also part of the enterprise forum with the Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, and the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and we are part of the cost of business advisory forum. We participate in many other fora at different stages but the ones I have listed are consistently in our diary. We have a lot of engagement with the Department but we are one voice. As I am sure every member will know, there are a lot of balls in the air that everyone is calling on. The statistics and numbers that are coming out this year show the pressure that businesses are under. We know from that and from talking to our members that the pressure is very real and the camel's back is about to break. As a retailer and in this role, I was flabbergasted to see the Low Pay Commission's recommendation. I genuinely thought that the message had got through that businesses cannot afford this constant increase in costs without something being offset elsewhere whether it is a package for SMEs, a VAT reduction or a PRSI rebate. However, it happened again in isolation at a time when all the numbers are showing insolvency rates in retail are at their highest. A stark statistic is one in four of all insolvencies last year was in retail. So our members are cutting hours and changing their opening hours. Stores are closing at 5 p.m. on a Friday. That is not just SMEs but large multiples as well as they try to manage their costs.

In terms of the trajectory for next year, I talked to members last week and a lot of them were very upset with me wondering what the hell are we saying at the Government table. They asked is our voice not cutting through and why are we getting lost in the noise. Honest to God, it is not for the lack of trying. Certainly being a retailer myself I can empathise with the struggle. What we are seeing is that a lot of businesses now - the larger guys - are all looking at automation. They are looking to replace people at any opportunity that they can, which is a sad place to be. Last week, I visited a retailer in a fulfilment centre in the west of Ireland and a big employer in the area. An automated system was installed and 30 part-time jobs are gone.