Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

The Tánaiste claimed preliminary findings show a 5% difference. It cannot possibly be true when wage, property and other costs are taken into account. I accept some retailers in the North of Ireland are able to avail of economies of scale in the UK. That is why we have to drive other economies of scale. We cannot just say there is nothing we can do about it. We have a duty to protect jobs and need to act to bring costs down in doing that. The Minister of State, Deputy McGuinness, spoke about the role of county enterprise boards. Their remits need to be expanded to examine job protection, not just job creation, in this economic climate.

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