Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We are delighted the Senator introduced the legislation and are glad to support it.

Out-of-town shopping centres offer significant advantages and people like to visit them. The issue is one of providing balance and ensuring town centres are not placed at a disadvantage. This Bill could play an important role in maintaining activity in town centres. I recall a couple of visits to Albany in New York. It was frightening to note that the centre of the city had nothing to offer that would attract retail customers, although it had a fabulous shopping centre on its outskirts. Many cities in the United States have taken a similar route and it would be a shame if this were to occur in this country. This trend is already evident, however, particularly in locations where there are out-of-town shopping centres. Many town centres in counties Meath, Kildare and Louth are under pressure as a result of shopping centres located outside the town. Out-of-town shopping centres, including on the outskirts of Dublin, are doing well.

Further down the country, I have also noticed that some towns are doing quite well, including, from appearances, Ballina. I visited Buncrana as long ago as the Seanad election and I thought those two towns were quite vibrant, probably because they are quite far away from everywhere else and there is no alternative but to shop in them. Consequently, they have quite nice and vibrant town centres. While I am sure the aforementioned two places have their own problems, they did not appear to be as acute as some of the town centres I have seen, which are almost at risk of closing down. In 2013 Fianna Fáil published a policy document called Streets Ahead in which we outlined a range of measures, of which this is an important part. It would help town centres to deal with the problems of rising vacancy rates and abandoned shop-fronts, which would bring greater footfall into the centres.

While I am not trying to nitpick or anything like that, I will raise a couple of small issues I have with the Bill. It applies to shops or retail outlets, but am I to believe it does not apply to suburban restaurants or pubs? If that is the intent of the Bill, then so be it. When Senator Paul Coghlan is concluding, he should indicate whether there is a minimum size to which this would not apply. I am thinking of a local Centra shop with four or five car-parking spaces. He will deal with such issues in his-----