Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Returning to my previous question on a promotional campaign - before the Acting Chairman gets excited, it is applicable to the retail sector - and a knowledge campaign for the two new schemes, these are not known of among the general business community. Would the Minister of State give me any idea of the drawdown of the facilities?

The Minister of State will not convince me that he is doing anything serious about retail. I would encourage him to look at the record of this debate. On manufacturing, in the case of specific initiatives and specific time lines, we got the jobs action plan. The Government threw the kitchen sink into initiatives on retail.

On the local enterprise offices, LEOs, we had a worthwhile engagement at the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation with Enterprise Ireland, a fantastic organisation which will bring an entirely different edge to this. However, retail is not in Enterprise Ireland's mix. It is not on its plate at all. At the committee, we have started on a cross-party basis conducting a review of the retail sector. Some committee members will be in Kilkenny and Waterford at the weekend and we will travel the country to get first-hand experience. I would encourage the Minister of State, who is a retailer, to bring his experience to the table in the design of the LEOs so that, as well as soft support, there is also some real support so that retail is part of the LEOs remit from their outset, not something to be pushed off as an AOB item.

Perhaps the Minister of State give us an update on the following matter which, I accept, is a budget decision. Has the Department engaged with the proposal of the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Joan Burton, to put another burden on business around sick pay and is there any update since the previous debate on that?

Finally, I repeat that the Minister of State, as a Member of this House, was aware of the constitutional blockages on upward-only rent reviews prior to the last election and prior to him making the promises that his party made, and he completely reversed his position when he went into government. In rural economies rents are not the problem but in the cities upward-only rent reviews are a major issue. They are causing serious job losses. Only two weeks ago, an iconic retailer in Dublin closed because it was not in a position to re-negotiate its rent. If the Minister of State goes down Nassau Street, he will see the empty unit.

See this speech in context