Seymour Crawford (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)

I thank the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for participating in this debate. She is no stranger to the difficulties experienced in Border areas and she is also in a position to do something about them. Whether we like it or not, consumers are travelling north of the Border to shop. Like the Minister, I would like to encourage them to be patriotic. However, one need only look at the photographs in the newspapers and hear the stories about what is happening to know that this call has fallen on deaf ears. Perhaps the photographs of the queues on the road to Newry will persuade some people not to do the same. However, it is a reality. When one considers that the shops in Enniskillen had to lock their doors while the shops in Cavan had no customers, it is frightening. What will happen? Jobs will be lost. In addition, income will drop. The Minister will say, as the former Deputy Garret FitzGerald said previously, that there is no VAT on food. I recall the Minister's late predecessor, the great footballer from Cavan, the late Mr. John Wilson, responding on the radio and television a few minutes after Garret made that comment. Garret had to rue it and we lost that election. However, they were different people in different times, although the issue has not changed. I still remember what happened.

Towns such as Newry, Portadown, Belfast and Enniskillen are crowded with shoppers but I wish to pay tribute to my local SuperValu shop in Monaghan town and all the SuperValu stores in the area. They came together and bought biscuits, Cadbury's Roses and the like, items I like to buy for my friends.

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