Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 28 April 2026
194. Deputy Tony McCormack asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the targeted measures or supports being considered or implemented by his Department to support the retail sector in the context of increased operating costs, changing consumer behaviour and international economic pressures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30088/26]
View answerThe Government acknowledges the contribution of the retail sector to the economy of every city, town and village in Ireland. The sector provides highly important employment with over 220,000 people directly employed in retail.
As the Minister of State with responsibility for Retail and Chair of the Retail Forum, I am aware of the issues facing retailers.
The Retail Forum allows key issues of relevance to the retail sector to be discussed, with a view to identifying practical actions which could be taken by Government, or by industry itself, to support the sector with particular emphasis on achieving sustainable jobs growth in the sector. The work of the Forum is driven by its members and the issues that they have identified as being critical to examine to support sustainable jobs growth in the retail sector. Membership of the Forum includes retailers and retail representative bodies, public sector and academic bodies. The last meeting of the Retail Forum took place on the 3 March 2026 and topics discussed included Retail Crime, the Deposit Return Scheme, Environmental levy on single-use disposable cups and the National Minimum Wage.
In relation to supports, the broad range of supports for the retail sector, including training programmes and funding to help retailers adapt to new challenges and opportunities in retail, can be found on the National Enterprise Hub (NEH). The NEH is an all-of-government service staffed by expertly trained advisers and is focused on helping businesses to access a range of Government supports.
The Government established the Cost of Business Advisory Forum to bring together enterprise representatives across various sectors, including representative bodies from the retail sector, alongside senior officials across Government departments, regulators and State agencies.
The Forum has met regularly over the last eight months with each meeting devoted to a distinct thematic area of concern to businesses; energy and security of supply, insurance, planning and infrastructure, water services and wastewater, and legal costs.
The Cost of Business Advisory Forum had its last meeting on 22nd April to discuss the final report and its findings, which will be presented to Government in first half of 2026.
Retail representative bodies have made regular submissions to the Forum and have highlighted the real-world impact of increased cost pressures and regulatory burden; and the effect these demands have on the operational capacity and competitiveness of retail SMEs.
As a result of stakeholder input, the resulting findings will inform a report and a set of recommendations to Government to address issues that merit a changed approach, and those steps that can be taken to mitigate these issues to ensure businesses navigating today’s economic landscape, remain in a competitive, resilient and supportive environment for enterprise.
