Ms Tara Buckley:

We are all on the same standing in terms of social welfare payments. We think it is more about ensuring that people who take on part-time or low-paid jobs are not penalised for taking on those jobs but are encouraged to do so. We agree with members on that issue.

We were asked about the black market. That is an issue on which we all agree. A question was asked about the specific cost of regulations. RGDATA has done much work in this area and on the huge number of licences and regulations. We put a cost a cost on it at the time which I will forward to the committee. We have had a development in this area as the Government is working on a portal whereby retailers can get all their licences in the one place. We would like them to include a 25% reduction on all the costs but we are not hearing that yet.

We do have concerns about new licences coming on stream. For example, the one mentioned today, the new licence for tobacco retailers has apparently gone to Cabinet today. It is unfair on legitimate tobacco retailers to charge them an extra €500 to €1,000 per year. This will result in the closure of small tobacconist newsagents and will put people out of jobs.