Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Landy for introducing it. From today’s report on the number of unoccupied commercial premises across the country, I noted County Donegal has one of the highest rates of vacancy of commercial premises. The national average is 12% while Letterkenny’s rate is 21%. Will the Minister clarify whether this rate is based on floor space or per unit? I have two insurance offices in Donegal, one in Raphoe and one in Letterkenny, for the past 25 years. I have noticed the downturn in small towns and large urban centres across the country in this time.

As a member of Letterkenny Town Council for 17 years, I recall that this was one of the issues that exercised most town councillors. How does one revitalise a main street that is dying on its feet? This is not an issue that is peculiar to Letterkenny, Mountmellick or Tralee. It is happening in nearly every town, with the main streets ebbing away. Some measures to tackle this include the use of a more creative way to strike rates. It has to be remembered that in the past one had to have a physical property to run a business. If one availed of services provided by the local authority, one had to pay rates. Now, a person can run a business from his or her kitchen with a laptop or from a car with a mobile phone. The rates system is based on the shop on the main street, which is being overtaken by the online retailer. We will have to examine how the rates system is used. It must be more equalised.

Last week I met a businessman who reminded me that the Government had promised to examine the issue of upward-only rent reviews. He understood how we were restrained from dealing with it, but he said he was being screwed - that was the word he used - by his landlord.

This man has been in business for 35 years and is a good businessman but these issues are holding him back. Other retailers in Donegal have gone out of business. They were good business people, but their banks had told them they should use the profits in their bank accounts to buy four properties in Manchester, four properties in Portugal and six properties in Cork. As they were doing well, those business people took that advice on board. Now these businesses have failed not because they were not viable but because of commercial debt. Sadly, many of the banks here were lending money not to invest in Ireland but in Europe and beyond. The money went out of the country and disappeared. We must give such people a break.

There is no point in saying money is available to small businesses. While that is very welcome, I speak to small business people every day socially or as Seanad spokesperson on jobs and enterprise, and many say that even if the banks offered them money they would not take it because they do not know what the future holds and how they would service the debt. They may also have to go through many hoops to get that money. We must devise a system that brings the high street back to viability.

There is a role for agencies such as An Post to do this. An Post opened a second post office in Letterkenny recently after three to five years of grappling with it. I got a petition going because there was a queue outside the post office. This destroyed people's mornings because they were standing in the rain. It was not helping local businesses because people were queueing past a number of shops and people could not get in. It took An Post three or four years to realise what every dog in the street and every person knew, namely, that there was a need to open a second post office in Letterkenny. An Post has done it and it has been successful. It has also helped the area where the second post office opened. The landlord there says the chemist and butcher are doing better and there is another shop opening. State agencies have a role to play, but have been reluctant to engage with the chambers of commerce and ordinary business people.

I know from personal experience the difficulties of small businesses. We must make a plan that gives people hope and ensure that small businesses starting up are not laden down with massive rents or overheads, and get them started again. The family business is the last to give up. The husband and wife with a family will fight to the last to save their business, and will be the last people in the business if it fails. They will be there and do everything to keep it going and we must support them.