Ms Tara Buckley:

Absolutely, we would support that. We find that our members, because they are the town centre traders, quite often pay inordinately high rates compared to those on the edge or out of town. Other small traders around them are paying the lion's share. Our argument is that if there is not a mix of shops in a town centre and a lot of vibrancy there is not really a town centre. It should be about encouraging these businesses.

We certainly agree that the rates issue needs to be addressed. When the downturn started every small independent retailer in the country had to look at its costs. They all came back to me and said they should have done this years ago. They had taken a third of the costs out of their business. We cannot understand the reason local authorities will not take a third of the costs out of their business, they way we have done, and pass the benefit on to the businesses in the town who are struggling to survive. It should not be that the local authorities cannot change their costs and that they will just take more money off businesses. As more shops close, a smaller pool is paying the commercial rates. We need to have this issue addressed. People have said it is only a small issue and that if one cannot pay the rates one should not be in business. For many of our members, rates is a significant issue. It is an issue which, if their business and turnover is down the rates should be going down, not increasing every year.