Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I would like to raise a matter that Senator Kyne has already touched on. Tomorrow is the day traditionally known as "black Friday", which has grown in popularity in Ireland over the last decade or so. It is the day we look for our bargains and deals, especially in the run-up to Christmas. I am asking all Senators to help to turn black Friday into green Friday. There is an existing campaign, Champion Green, which has assets on its website that we, as public representatives, can use to send to community groups, put online, and get the message out that we want to turn black Friday into green Friday.We all know the pressures that our local businesses are facing because we are dealing with them every day. They have had to move online to survive. I am not just talking about bigger retailers, but also designers, artists, boutiques and gyms. People in our localities are depending on us. It is time that we click, shop and support local, champion our local businesses, economies, jobs and communities. Some 70% of what is being spent online is actually being spent abroad. If we all spent €50 in our local economies, money that we were going to spend anyway, it would add €180 million to our national economy. That is an important message that we need to get out tomorrow.

I praise the resourcefulness and resilience of our local businesses. I know that supports are there to help businesses move online, modernise and become more productive. My message today is that we should get behind our local businesses tomorrow. We must get that message out because those businesses are depending on us.