Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the two groups for appearing before the committee. The committee also met the groups at its recent meetings in Castlebar and Ballinasloe. To hammer home the point in terms of employment, when we left Castlebar we stopped at a newsagent in Ballinrobe which employed 15 people two years ago, between full and part-time, and today employs one person plus the owner. Mr. Colin Fearon gave us the same figure that morning in Castlebar but it was brought home to us very vividly a couple of hours later in Martin's own shop. He is back working full-time and a member of his family helps him, having had 15 people, between full-time and part-time, just over two years ago. Will he please describe the smartphone app, the development costs of which he said he was willing to fund? I presume it can be extended to products other than tobacco, for example, alcohol and pharmaceutical products.