Mr. Mark Fielding:

On the new crop of councillors, I hope they will have seen the errors of the past. Listening to them on the hustings, they were full of promise about local initiatives which I hope will happen.

LEOs will have a big part of play and my thoughts on them are well known. I am afraid there will be a hiatus while they bed down in the next while. I do not know how long it will take them to make the change and bring the enterprise part under county managers who, historically, through no fault of their own, did have not an entrepreneurial bent. They were much more involved in making sure the facilities and amenities provided were right. We will wait and see whether they are able to embrace the entrepreneurial side of LEOs. I just hope that will happen, otherwise we will set back the seedbed of entrepreneurship a few years in Ireland.

With regard to the ability to reduce property tax by 15%, the Deputy is correct that if councils reduce the tax, they must recoup the money elsewhere and it could be the usual response of hitting business, rather than looking at themselves and seeing where they can reduce their costs, like any business. If one's income reduces, the first thing one must look at is one's cost base, but we have a history in Ireland of increasing costs when income reduces. The local authorities study published in July 2010 showed a reduction of between €510 million and €512 million in costs was available to local councillors. Some of this has been achieved through amalgamations, etc., but they have to look first at their costs before they start looking at businesses to increase rates.

In the 1950s living over a shop was a way of life and I am sure it could still happen. Putting incentives in place to bring people back into city and town centres is important.

I agree on the parking issue. Staff tend to avail of parking facilities and it is a matter of making sure it does not happen. The measure would have to be policed properly.

I do not see a Tesco tax because, as the Deputy said, it would hit other traders. Everybody has a right to trade wherever he or she is located. I am talking about what we can do to get people back into the centre of towns because we have lost a lot. That town culture is part of our Irishness and we are losing it. Perhaps it might happen anyway. It was a badge of achievement and honour when one had made enough and was successful enough to move out from over one's shop. That happened me as a child. We moved from the road because my father had made a few shillings. Units do not have to have an owner occupier. Many of the rooms above shops are vacant and could be used.