Kate O'Connell (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will not do that today, but with an extra minute I might. I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

I thank the Minister of State at the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy John Halligan, for coming in to take this Topical Issue, which concerns the closure of Waltons music shop in Dublin city centre and the moving of its business to its Blanchardstown branch, having first opened its doors on North Frederick Street in 1922. It is many a block of rosin, a bow or a string I bought there in my time.

The decision to move was due to "ever rising costs of doing business in the city centre". This has been extensively covered in the media recently. I believe that physical, bricks and mortar retail shops are paying a disproportionate share of the overall basket of levies or costs placed on a physical business such as the commercial rates and VAT when these costs are compared to those of the online competitors. While some may be subject to rates for a warehouse the online competitor does not have to pay high street rates. In the case of a company based outside Ireland, for example, those rates would never hit Ireland's coffers.

We are not dealing with a level playing field. The burden is unfairly distributed on to the high street shop. The concept of rates sprang from a time long before online business existed and before online sales were even conceived. Rates are based on the principle that all retail transactions happen in a face-to-face environment. Obviously the traditional retailers need to embrace the changing environment but this legacy issue, this money that is going off their bottom line, puts them constantly on the back foot because their online competitors are starting off from a higher financial base. The high street businesses and those in the local villages are automatically at a disadvantage.

People's choices should not be inhibited. There is no doubt that many people will continue to shop online as they are entitled to do, and I hope that they do, but the choice of the retailer comes into question in this regard. Surely the choices are being made for retailers when there is a competitive disadvantage for the physical shop.

We must also consider the huge social and interpersonal value in having shops in a community. Members talk at length in the House about the value of pubs and post offices to the community. There is a dividend also for the community in supporting our retailers. Notwithstanding this there is also the importance of local employment. This matter is not about subventing the retail sector: it is about trying to help retail in this environment. I am not speaking of large companies: I am referring to the shops such as Waltons and the family businesses that have been in existence for some time. We can see the huge body of evidence from recent years that these businesses are not able to be sustained.

It is also very important to have a good mix of retailers on our streets. Anybody who has walked up Grafton Street recently can see the proliferation of large international companies coming in who are able to pay these rates. What has the Minister of State done and what is he doing to address these challenges to mitigate the loss of important contributors such as these retail outlets to the fabric of our towns and cities?

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