Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I now turn to the issue of high-street retail, which is in serious decline. In towns like Tullamore, Birr, Edenderry and similar towns all over Ireland, we see more and more shops closing. Footfall is down, rent and staffing costs are up and the result is that once thriving town centres are slowly emptying out. This is visible, urgent and deeply worrying. The reality is that this cannot be solved by one scheme or Department alone.

We need a national joined-up plan that looks at how to bring life back to our high streets. That includes cross-departmental action, enterprise, housing, local government and finance. We need real incentives for retail on the high street, not just to keep existing shops afloat, but to make it attractive for new retail businesses to open. That could mean help with start-up costs, targeted grants for fitting out vacant units, supports for marketing, rent, or even pop-up retail pilots in empty spaces.

What plans does the Department have to support and revive high street retail? Will the Minister work with his Cabinet colleagues to make this a priority in government?

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