Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The small shopkeepers and small business people whom I have met on this issue and who have approached me have a number of things in common. I have not yet met one who is a proponent of the abuse of alcohol and who would, for one moment, wish to let alcohol become rampant in society. In actual fact, the small shopkeepers I have met are the people who sponsor everything in their communities. They support schoolboy football and all the social activities in their communities. They are the people who lead community development organisations and local chambers of commerce. They are the people who are responsible for everything that is good, civic minded and responsible in our society. Far from being proponents of alcohol abuse, they are actually the best of our citizens, and this has to be acknowledged whatever side of the argument one approaches this from.

I detected two issues in common in all of the shopkeepers who approached me, and I know that the Leas-Chathaoirleach, who is a very honourable and capable representative nominated by RGDATA, knows some of these issues. The first issue in common is that they are concerned that the cost to them would be prohibitive. They are already hard pressed as many small towns are dying. They are in difficulty as it is. The other concern is that in some way the nature of the restriction on them and the nature of the regulations would be such as to reduce their market share considerably. It would not reduce alcohol consumption but send it up the street to the off-licence that can have a display window or the megastores that can afford the separate areas and walk-in areas. It would be a dislocation of business from the corner shop we all want to preserve and which we all need on Christmas morning or St. Stephen's morning. This shop would be in jeopardy because the bigger multiples can accommodate the legislation. I am happy to know the Minister will engage with them, and I congratulate him on this. He is well able to do this and he can allay their fears and meet their needs in this area.

I am also happy that in one of the Minister's amendments he has come forward with a proposal for two shelving areas with visibility for the product. This will deal with the dislocation question. The shopkeepers explained to me their fear that if we stop the local corner shop from being able to display its alcohol, customers will be sent down the street and the shops business will be dislocated. The Minister is at least addressing this issue now. He will sit down with the small shopkeepers and their representatives, and I acknowledge this. I ask that we address the question of cost for the small shopkeeper, and that we do not send business down the street. A shopkeeper told me he owned another little property down the street which has glass windows, and that he could move his alcohol business to there. It would have high-street visibility but he would have taken it out of the shop. They do not want to hide visibility of the alcohol but have it in a separate section. They are prepared to do what off-licences do, which is not allow children into it. I hope this issue can be addressed on these terms. We are all in favour of attacking the question and dealing with the question of the abuse of alcohol. Nobody coming to this debate has any other agenda. It is a question of how we arrive at that point.