Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the tone of the debate and indeed for the constructive proposal. It is constructive, but it will require quite a bit of reflection from the Government in relation to the abolition of PRSI for lower-paid workers. It would come at a cost, today as well as in the future, and we have to bear that in mind. I will bring it to the attention of both the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Finance for reflection.

The Deputy mentioned his mother growing up as a shopkeeper. The Ceann Comhairle and Deputy Durkan will know Gillespie's in Baltinglass very well, in the neighbouring county to them. That is where my father grew up, over the shop where my granddad was manager down below, working six days a week. They took Sundays off in those days. That instilled in me the respect and understanding that retailers are some of the hardest workers in our society. Nowadays, they are working seven days a week, often long and late hours filling shifts and dealing with many costs. Through my role as chair of the Retail Forum, I work with individual retailers, their representative groups and their suppliers on a daily basis. One thing that we have put huge focus on is the online retail scheme. The intention is not to replace the bricks and mortar store or to force it to be solely an experience-led activity, but to make sure that we can use the Internet to drive more people through into traditional retailers.

In relation to the ICOB scheme, we will use these next two weeks to make sure that we do not leave anyone on the margins and that those who are there or thereabouts in relation to the €20,000 will be open for consideration. It is under real reflection. The one thing we want is a scheme that works for as many businesses as possible in a manner that is impactful and that can be delivered in the first quarter of next year, just when many businesses are finding things tough. I really appreciate the Deputy's input today. I will feed what I can in to other Ministers and take it on board in my own role as well.

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