Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I can assure the Deputy there is a sense of urgency about the position of the retail sector at present and in terms of addressing the serious issues around employment and so on in the sector. As part of this year’s Action Plan for Jobs, we have established the Retail Consultation Forum under the aegis of my Department to provide a platform for a structured engagement between the retail sector and relevant Departments and agencies. Its purpose is to allow key issues of relevance to the sector to be discussed with a view to identifying practical actions which could be taken by the Government or by the industry to support the sector.

The Retail Consultation Forum comprises representatives from the retail sector and from relevant public sector bodies and it comprises not necessarily only the statutory actors in the sector but individual retailers who have displayed excellence in their own areas in recent years. It is chaired by me and the secretariat to the forum is resourced by the Department.

The forum has met on three occasions to date this year, in June under the former Minister of State, Deputy Perry, and the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and in September and early November when it was chaired by myself. We have agreed a broad work programme for the next 12 months. Following the September meeting of the forum, a submission was made to the Departments of Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform outlining proposals for consideration to support the retail sector in budget 2015.

One of the main challenges for the retail sector during the recession was the erosion of consumers’ disposable income. The 2015 budget was the first in many years that will herald an increase in people’s disposable incomes when people consider the tax cuts they will receive in their pay packets at the end of January and rises in social welfare payments in terms of the partial restoration of the Christmas bonus and other measures such as the €5 increase in child benefit. Other budget measures that will have a positive impact on the retail sector include the retention of the 9% VAT rate, the extension of the home renovation incentive to include rental properties, and the additional funding being provided by the Department of Social Protection under the JobsPlus scheme.

The most recent meeting of the forum, on 10 November, centred on identifying potential actions for inclusion in the 2015 Action Plan for Jobs to support the retail sector, including areas where business costs could be addressed. In next year's Action Plan for Jobs we want to focus on the ease of doing business. On the basis of that discussion, my officials are currently drawing up a number of measures with me to support the sector and they will be considered for inclusion in next year’s Action Plan for Jobs.

The Deputy will be aware from having been involved in this that we anxiously await the joint Oireachtas committee's report on town centre shopping. I look forward to working with him on that.

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