Ms Flora Crowe:

I thank the committee and Chair for having me. I, like every retailer in the country, have been hit by colossal bills. I got a lot of publicity in the last week about my enormous bill. One element that has been left out here is that rural Ireland will die on its feet unless somebody steps in and helps us. The bills are so enormous that we have no hope of ever recouping or being able to pay for it because we cannot pass those costs on to our consumers. Grocery is a very low-margin business.

It is highly competitive, so we cannot start charging €6 for a loaf of bread. We are up against the German discounters and the multinationals. We also do not have parent companies that can foot the bill for electricity costs. We want to pay our bills but we physically cannot as we do not have the money. No matter how much we sell, we would never be able to make up the increases in the price of electricity.

Rural Ireland was revitalised during Covid between cafés and shops opening, and that helped with the housing crisis, among other things. Unless the Government steps in and, at the very least, backdate the scheme then rural Ireland will die on its feet so where will people go for a local shop or café? The main thing that has been left out is that rural Ireland will die but I thought it was a Government policy to revitalise rural Ireland.