Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I leave here with greater clarity, to be quite frank, and a greater sense that there is a common purpose in terms of what people want to achieve. Let me be clear about section 20. I have heard what Senators have said tonight. I have heard legitimate worries and concerns from small shop owners. In fact, I heard Senator O'Reilly outlining very succinctly two of the worries of small shop owners being that it is cost prohibitive and-or that it would basically result in business leaving their shop and going to a larger shop or a multiple. I have heard that articulated numerous times in numerous different ways by my colleagues on all sides of the House. That is not what this about. I hope that we can now decouple this issue that has been getting muddied up in all of the other issues to do with alcohol and we can sit down with those who represent the retailers and have a discussion on that one item. I do not want anyone misinterpreting what I said. The record of the House will be very clear in relation to what I said. Visibility is not the be-all and end-all of the legislation, but it is an important part. I will engage with the retailers, but as I said at the start of this debate today on Committee Stage, it will be on the basis that my bottom line is that alcohol will be less visible in our shops.