Mary White (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I wish to put on record that 250,000 people are employed by the retail sector in Ireland. From my observations and study of the sector, it is the most threatened industry in the country. Online technical developments that are taking place and the use of applications and high tech equipment are slaughtering the retail area, so to speak. People are losing jobs in shops throughout the country. This Government has a pathetic approach and lacks an entrepreneurial attitude to this sector in which people are losing their jobs.

I have nothing personal against the Minister of State but I was appalled by his speech and found to be bureaucratic. As I have said many times before, our Ministers did not do their job and left too much to civil servants. The response of this speech is exactly the same and shows the civil servants are running the show. I do not wish to go too far, but civil servants have permanent and pensionable jobs while those in the retail sector can lose their jobs overnight.