Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)

I send my condolences to Senator Teresa Costello on the passing of her dad. I also offer my condolences to Independent councillor in Kerry, Niall O'Callaghan, and his family on the passing of his brother Paudie at the weekend.

I rise on an issue that was raised with me by my local shopkeeper. George Lee, a third generation family grocer, holds the corner shop in my village of Castleconnell in County Limerick. He brought this to my attention, and I have spoken to others since. It is an issue that will affect many retailers, including independent retailers, up and down the length of country. That is the introduction of the new annual licence next February for the sale of tobacco and vape products. For all retailers who sell tobacco and vape products, there will be a licence fee of €1,000 for tobacco and €800 for vape products, payable no matter what their turnover, square footage, location or footfall is. This is grossly unfair on the independent retailers around the country who are the fabric of our societies, and indeed akin to the independent coffee shops and restaurants that we heard so much about from the Minister, Deputy Burke, in the lead-up to the budget. They were forgotten.I ask that the Minister come into the House to discuss the supports he will introduce for these independent retailers, who effectively face a tax on a footfall driver and loss-leading product in their premises. It is very important to them and to a huge proportion of their profit margin. Those independent retailers, I remind Senators, are paying 23% VAT on what they sell.