Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

We are talking about an annual spend of approximately €32 billion. We expect €21 billion of this to be accounted for by the spend online by 2017, with 75% of it going abroad. It is reckoned that every 1% of that spend we win back boosts the local economy by approximately €40 million. Every time we have this debate the Government rightly states it is doing something about it, but there is a mismatch between the level of the Government's response and the size of the problem. Exactly how much will the Minister of State spend in the coming years in focusing on this crisis within the retail sector? How many businesses does he expect to reach and how money jobs does he believe will be created?

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