Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Tánaiste for her response. It strikes me that the differences between the domestic economy and the multinational sector are pointed up in this instance. There were reports in the media for many months on the sale of Clerys. If there was speculation about the future of a multinational that employed 600 or so people, the early warning unit of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Employment would be on top of the issue straightaway in an effort to find out was happening. That does not appear to have happened in this case. It is difficult to get one's head around the fact that this asset, located in the middle of O'Connell Street, is worth approximately €30 million and that the directors and faceless people have walked away, leaving the taxpayer to meet the redundancy bills and workers bereft of dignity and self-respect. Surely, there is some mechanism by which we can put a lean on the money derived from the sale of the building to ensure we get the taxpayers' money back.

The Tánaiste has mentioned that she and her family were customers of Clerys. What has happened again points to the need for an examination of the future of the retail sector. People are not engaging with the retail industry in the same way as they used to. It is too major an employer to be left to the vagaries of technology and online purchasing. We need a retail strategy to protect employment and allow retail space to increase. The following is a quotation from an article in the Irish Independent on 10 May, the author of which I will not name, on the sale of Clerys:

It's good news for the capital: The fact that there is interest in something like Clerys is a good indication of domestic economic recovery.

I again ask what kind of recovery is it?

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