Ms Aoife McBride:

I am glad the Senator asked the question about the €100 because when we were coming here, we were breaking down what the cost of running a business is. In very simplistic terms, if I take €100 through the till, if VAT is taken out I am down to €81.30. If I am operating on a 40% gross profit margin, which a healthy enough profit margin in our industry, I am then down to €32.52. I take wages out of that, which are 25% of my turnover after VAT. I am then down to €12.20 out of every €100. Out of that, I have to pay rent, rates, insurance, heat, light, marketing, packaging and every other expense that is always left. If you talk to somebody in marketing, if you want to future-proof your business, they will recommend you spend 10% on marketing. That would take me down to €2.20 for every other expense within my business. Obviously, that is not viable.

The Senator said he has a restaurant and mentioned putting up prices. We have a recommended retail price. It is set by the company. I am selling to the same person who is selling in France, Belgium or wherever else. I do not have the opportunity to add anything on the other end, so you are squeezing in the middle. We are then talking about raising the minimum wage, which has the knock-on effect of raising all the other wages. You then just cut the hours because you have to. What is going to give within that? I do not have control over the other expenses; that is the other thing. I cannot buy less stock because I have to have the turnover to generate the business. That is the thing. It is said that the minimum wage is being increased, but people are not benefiting from it because if their hours are reduced, they do not have any more money in their pocket.

Deputy Gogarty made a very good point. I suggested a regionalised approach. Maybe that is not the answer, but it is more about not setting global industries against local businesses. That is how we are being set. It comes back to the same thing - what do the towns look like? Do we want businesses in these towns? How do we support that? I do not have an answer on how the wealth that is taken from all these multinationals is redistributed, but we need to spread the wealth. As was said, a nurse in Dublin cannot afford a house. It is not fair. The country is not fair in the way it is set up at the moment. I do not have the answer on how to fix it, but I am seeing it from the point of view that if things do not change, I am out of this business anyway. I guess that is not an answer.