Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

----- but the town is doing well.

However, there is a real problem in the centre of the town. There has been out-of-town development with Tesco - of which I am not a great fan. I appreciate it is providing jobs. Ultimately one must be aware that one is meeting people every day who work in Tesco. Even though I might not be sympathetic to the corporate image Tesco presents, I appreciate it is providing jobs.

I am particularly pleased that Irish-based supermarkets such as SuperValu, Centra and others are succeeding in small towns and are surviving. Small businesses are also surviving primarily through the work of the development companies across the country, the money coming from Leader, etc. That has helped to a large degree.

I would be interested to hear the Minister of State outline her priorities for her brief over the remaining time of her tenure and hopefully into the future in terms of how we might address the decline of the centres of towns and villages. That is the challenge for the Minister of State and for everybody else. I would be particularly interested to hear her views on that. Overall I am delighted she got the job. I have no doubt that she will give it 110% and I wish her every success in the world.