Mr. Sean Murphy:

In addition to the rateable value of a property, the scheme takes into account the contribution made by a company to animating the high street. A retail mix is vital to attracting more consumers. Certain categories of retail store are proliferating in Ireland. All consumers, especially the young, have been willing to prioritise data and telecoms over fashions in recent years. Every kid on the street seems to have a smartphone because that is where children's priorities lie. This is reflected in the spread of telecommunications and telephone shops. While such stores are a welcome addition to retail, if one wants to broaden the retail mix to attract mums and dads as well as teenagers, one needs to recognise and incentivise certain types of low-margin, high-employment retailers to locate in shopping streets. The contribution économique territoriale gives the local taxation authorities more flexibility in prioritising investment in that regard.

In terms of the people to whom we talk, our view would be that the northern version is somewhat blunt and could be more nuanced. We can go into greater detail off-line, if needs be, for the Deputy.

As regards animating town centres, we are in favour of people living above shops. However, the perennial problem in this regard is parking. Letterkenny Town Council, working in conjunction with Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, developed a great model of incentivising a turnover in respect of car parking. As I understand it, this involves rotation cameras being used to measure the number of car turnover on the streets of the town. The pricing model that has been put in place as a result has worked very well. We can obtain more detail for the committee in that regard. Ennis is bedevilled by a lack of parking.