Dee Ryan (Fianna Fail)

Cuirim fáilte ar ais roimh an Aire Stáit. Gabhaim buíochas leis as teacht isteach sa Teach seo chun mo cheist a fhreagairt.

I would like to raise an issue that was brought to my attention by the proprietor of my local grocery story in the village in County Limerick that I am from. This person is the third generation of their family to run the local grocery store in the village. This person is well respected and, indeed, is an integral part of our village life and community. George Lee, the independent grocer, brought to my attention that the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is proposing to introduce in February of next year an annual licensing fee for the sale of tobacco and nicotine inhaling products. Will the Minister for Health consider a derogation for small grocery stores and small retailers in consideration of the significant cost increases they have experienced in recent years?

It is worth restating those cost increases. They have seen increases in lighting and heating bills, in insurance costs, in the minimum wage and in their basic inputs, the stock that they are buying in to sell on. All of these increases have put a significant squeeze on the very small profit margin these businesses are operating with. Indeed, these same businesses, as the Minister of State will remember, remained open to serve all of us during Covid. They were deemed essential services and did not close but persevered through the years of the lockdowns to ensure that communities like mine and that of the Minister of State, and communities throughout the country, were able to access the goods and groceries they required.

These businesses have faced a perfect storm in recent years.The storm is not over yet because the Minister is proposing to introduce a licence fee of €1,000 per year to sell tobacco and €800 per year to sell nicotine-inhaling products, or vapes. That is regardless of the size of a premises, turnover or footfall. It is a blanket charge that is, in effect, a further tax and cost to small, independent grocers throughout the country. While the Government is rightly trying to drive down demand for these products, they are not profitable in their own rights. They are loss leaders and footfall drivers for businesses that are trying to sell other products.

We have heard a lot over recent weeks in the lead up to the budget about how important coffee shops were to rural communities throughout the countries and how important small restaurants were to small towns. There was a grocer, a local corner shop, in my village for a hundred years ever before we had a coffee shop and I can tell you that the loss of that grocery store would be as keenly felt as anything else in the fabric of our village. Will the Minister for Health consider a derogation, an exemption, for small groceries and retail businesses around the country from this new licence fee?