Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I have a fear that if we simply watch as the switch to online happens, we will end up with derelict high streets. It is happening already to varying degrees and different towns are affected in different ways. We will end up with only multinational and large retailers and no small indigenous retailers. According to Retail Ireland, the four crippling factors are labour costs, rates, insurance and rent. We cannot control all of those but the Government has levers on some. Could it look at differentiated rates? A real craft business, like the baker, butcher, candlestick maker or repairs service, could have a different rates base. Alternatively, rates could be based on volume of turnover and not just on the retail asset valuation. Currently, high streets like Grafton Street in Dublin are starting to have only mobile phone shops on them as those are the only retailers that can afford the rates and rents applying. What can we do specifically to support small retailers or, in the alternative, to create more mixed streets rather than the retail streets they have been historically?

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