Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

At yesterday's meeting of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation we had a very interesting debate on town centres. It was initiated by RGDATA, the body representing smaller independent shops. While the town centres of Ireland are being devastated in many cases, I do not believe it is up to the State to solve this - it is the sort of thing that needs to be solved by each individual town. There are some great examples of towns that are doing a lot and being successful. We could do with a debate here because the debate initiated yesterday was very worthy. The State can do certain things to help the independent shops. The State needs to address black-market operations, fuel laundering, illegal cigarettes and others. The other aspects are things we need to do ourselves.

I fear there is not enough attention focused on enterprise. Throughout the country wonderful steps are being taken with regard to enterprise, particularly youth enterprise. If we can manage to encourage people to feel they can do it themselves rather than have somebody else do it for them, we can change the culture of enterprise in this country. It is worthy of a debate in the House and I urge the Leader to allocate time for that debate soon.