Business Supports
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-28
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Alan Dillon (FG), Mayo

I thank the Deputy for his question. The Government acknowledges the enormous contribution of the retail sector to our economy in every city, town and village in Ireland. It plays an important role in employment, with over 220,000 people directly employed in retail. As I said in response to the previous Deputy, I meet quarterly with the retail representative bodies for all retailers right across the country. The Minister, Deputy Burke, and I are aware of the issues facing retailers.
In addition, during the recent fuel price disruptions, officials in my Department engaged with the main multiple grocery retailers and focused on the impact on issues such as distribution, supply and home deliveries. As I said earlier, we are looking to identify practical actions that could be taken by the Government, or by industry itself, to support the sector, with particular emphasis on achieving sustainable jobs growth in the sector. The last meeting of the retail forum took place on 3 March. The topics discussed included retail crime, the deposit return scheme, environmental levies on single-use disposable cups and the national minimum wage.
The Deputy might be aware that the cost of doing business advisory forum has been established. It will look at the inherent costs for many retailers who are finding it challenging in regard to the increase in labour, insurance and energy costs impacting them. Over the last eight weeks, we have met regarding the various thematic areas of concern. Most of those focused on planning, insurance, infrastructure, water services and wastewater and legal costs. We want real outcomes from this forum. The last meeting was only held last week. It was attended by the Minister and the two Ministers of State here, given the political commitment we have to try to support the retail sector.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-28/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:52+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-28