Retail organisation urges against negative budget speculation

While consumer confidence is on the increase, Retail Excellence Ireland warns that spending continues to fall.

10/08/12 2,949 Views 21 Comments

Image: Julien Behal/PA Wire via PA

RETAIL EXCELLENCE IRELAND is urging government and media to refrain from unnecessary budget commentary, in order to help increase consumer spending.

The call came as general sales fell by 4.7 per cent for the second quarter of 2012, despite the KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment Index rising to 67.7 per cent for July, up from 62.3 per cent in June.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, the CEO of Retail Excellence Ireland, David Fitzsimons, believes that the current reporting of December’s budget is the “inverse of the good times,” where overwhelming positivity used to accompany budget announcements.

Believing that “speculation about austerity is often just that,” Fitzsimons said that the single best thing that government could do to help increase spending would be a “re-invigoration of the housing market”.

Citing the failure of government to bring in reforms concerning upward only rents, he believes that “we have austerity without significant reforms,” with retailers left to “suffer austerity when still suffering from austerity-level costs”.

Retail Excellence Ireland is a not-for-profit organisation which represents over 850 retail companies, who operate over 9,500 stores in the Irish market.

Read: Referendum uncertainty leads to dip in consumer sentiment >

Already a fan? Connect below...

Get breaking news from TheJournal.ie via Facebook.
Just click Like.

Short URL

About the author:

Paul Hyland

@PaulieHyland

paul@thejournal.ie

See more articles by Paul Hyland

Contribute to this story:

Comments (21 Comments)

Ordered By: Popularity

Popularity Date

Leave a comment

Gerard Fogarty 10/08/12 #

0 14

The Government’s medium term budget statement last year was a fudge. They need to set out more clearly what they will do in the next 3/4 budgets to provide certainty and confidence in the economy.

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
Neil McAuley 10/08/12 #

1 20

Consumer sentiment increases as general sales fall. Bit of a contradiction there eh !! Useless and irrelevant statistics and pronouncements like KBC/ESRI are not grounded in the real world and pay no heed to the retail carnage that’s still happening the length and breadth of the country.

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- Ian Walsh 14/08/12 #
  
  0 0
  
  not really. Its a case of saying one thing and doing another.
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
alan 10/08/12 #

8 43

You can’t pretend your way out of a depression either, the 5 point plan will save us, you just wait and see, Big Phil and the lads have it all under control…groan!!

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- rodrigo detriano 10/08/12 #
  
  4 52
  
  This upwards only rent review is a national scandal! I can’t believe there hasn’t been more uproar from the public in regards to government failing to keep a pre election promise! It suits them to hide behind NAMA, but if the truth be known, it’s their high powered wealthy pals that that are calling the shots!
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- Mark Vieregge 10/08/12 #
  
  0 26
  
  @Rodrigo: Uproar for social and political issues in this country is as rare as their famous pot of gold.
  I
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- tomnewnewman.org 10/08/12 #
  
  7 3
  
  Tax system now has to evolve to take people’s money before they spend it on imports and foreign holidays and black economy.
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
Scarr 10/08/12 #

1 15

Unfortunately it’s unlikely to get any better in the near future, another 3 negative budgets at least, water charges, home owner tax, school costs up, electricity up, gas up, college fees, health insurance, quinn, banks not passing on rate reductions, crippling mortgage payments, and paying for all our ministers, it all means less disposable income. And the little bit people do have they will probably continue to spend on a couple of days in the sunshine. Retail is in for a tough winter unless some positive signs come from Leinster house.

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- tomnewnewman.org 10/08/12 #
  
  2 5
  
  No simple answer. Sunshine Holidays help Spain etc. but on other 49 weeks of year typical day might be hop into car(helping Japanese), drive (middle East petrol) to shops buy clothes (helping China). Have M&S Sandwich (Made in Uk) and muffin (made in Uk) , tweet phone-in to complain about poor public services on mobile(helping Korea, US Etc……………
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- Paul Mallon 10/08/12 #
  
  1 2
  
  Here’s and answer: Help yourself by any means possible, leave Ireland.
  piling on the tax and ZERO reforms, still no accountability, no one brought to charge, no help for the general public. And people seem happy enough with things.
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
Damocles 10/08/12 #

1 13

They’ve got a point.

Simplistically, if you start saying that we’re in for cuts then some people won’t spend and if people aren’t spending companies will cut back on staff, and as a result tax revenue forecasts are reduced and as a result we get cuts …

Self fulfilling prophecy, innit?

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
PeeedOff 10/08/12 #

6 25

Shur we all know Govt are going to tear our pockets a new one in the next few budgets. Simple maths, less in the pocket less to spend. Economy in this country is gonna be in the toilet for decades.

This shower of self serving Blueshirted amadans are only interested in shoring up their Bondholder & Banker cronies, along with looking after their own pay, expenses, pensions & perks…!!!

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
Paul Mallon 10/08/12 #

0 3

If the government scrapped upward only rent reviews, then costs would come down and in theory, goods would get cheaper and people would spend more right??
Would shop owners pass the saving on to the public though, I’d like to think so, but I’m not so sure.

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- tomnewnewman.org 10/08/12 #
  
  0 2
  
  If shops are selling mainly imports, the more they sell the worse our balance of payments will get?
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- Paul Mallon 10/08/12 #
  
  0 2
  
  Yeah, that’s probably an issue in it’s own right. Doesn’t justify upward only rent reviews though.
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
kingstown 10/08/12 #

3 6

They should tell their poodles in ISME and SFA to do the same then

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- Brian Whelan 10/08/12 #
  
  2 5
  
  What do you mean by this?
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- kingstown 10/08/12 #
  
  4 7
  
  @brian – the bitching comments by some in ISME and SFA about rates, taxes, job losses only serve to undermine consumer confidence further. Their narrow agenda to ‘ease’ the burden on SMEs only serves to scarce consumers more with threats to salaries, employment etc.
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
- Brian Whelan 10/08/12 #
  
  1 6
  
  I’m not a member of either organization you mentioned but if either of them ‘bitched’ about rates, tax increases or job losses then they were correct to do so. The huge increase in rates over the past 10 years is incredible and has not diminished with the demise of the Celtic tiger, money going to bloated local authorities. Increasing the tax rate to 23% has a negative effect on consumer spending also ( the uk reduced their VAT rate for a year to stimulate their economy) and all I have to do is look at any high street in the country to see lots of closed shops and job losses obviously occurred with these closures. The upward only rent reviews are crazy and will only serve to hasten the demise of more retail enterprises.
  
  Reply
  Tweet | Share | Report this comment
john g mcgrath 10/08/12 #

1 3

It’s a bit late for that headline

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment
tomnewnewman.org 10/08/12 #

1 2

Governments (not just Irish) left with no choice. Take the money from us before we make it to the Airport or shops.

Reply
Tweet | Share | Report this comment

Add New Comment

Log in to comment:

Share This Comment on Facebook or Twitter

Most Popular Today

1	Emergency meetings after soldier ‘decapitated’ in London machete attack 69,768 145

2	Which county has the lowest disposable income per person? 32,706 96

3	The world’s wealthy ‘could be hiding €707 billion in Ireland’ 18,172 73

1	Finally: The inventor of the GIF explains how to pronounce it 13,067 29

2	Aer Arann buys €144 million worth of aircraft and announces 50 jobs 11,389 36

3	RTE stars paid “too much” says station boss 11,194 54

1	Sergio Garcia sorry for ‘fried chicken’ remark about Tiger Woods 16,195 79

2	The Dubs will wear this jersey with a suicide awareness logo at Croker 14,716 34

3	Robbie Keane now will be available to face England at Wembley 8,005 47

1	We’ve been saying “GIF” wrong… here are 14 GIFs to ease the pain 22,299 47

2	22 reasons why you don’t have your dream job yet 20,754 7

3	9 pieces of proof that your TV is out to destroy your relationship 19,063 38

Trending Tags

Power to shut down phone networks is ‘proportionate’ – watchdog

Mobile phone networks could be shut off during G8 due to terror threats

Michelle Obama and daughters set to visit Ireland

TAX TRANSPARENCY

The world’s wealthy ‘could be hiding â�¬707 billion in Ireland’

The world’s wealthy ‘could be hiding €707 billion in Ireland’

Taxpayers could find out what their money is spent on by next year

FG backbencher preparing ‘tax transparency’ bill to show where money goes

FACEBOOK

Poll: Should Ireland be tougher on multi-national companies when it comes to tax?

What can Facebook tell us about the battle of the sexes?

Court says YouTube video of taxi evasion may be taken down from the internet

APPLE

Leaders back EUâ��s plan to attack â��tax planningâ�� by the end of 2013

Leaders back EU’s plan to attack ‘tax planning’ by the end of 2013

Taoiseach says Ireland does not give special tax deals

US Senate: Irish tax havens are leaving US children without education

GOOGLE

500 million searches a day are for things Google has never heard of

Column: How practising mindfulness can help your work life

Google exec grilled in UK over ‘devious’ use of Ireland to reduce tax

TAX

Kenny to talk tax with European Council

Survey finds the majority of people are unaware of pension tax breaks

Poll: Would you support a smartphone tax to fund suicide prevention?

About Us

Corrections

Report Content

Policies

Please note that TheJournal.ie uses cookies to improve your experience and to provide services and advertising. For more information on cookies please refer to our cookies policy.

News images provided by Press Association and Photocall Ireland unless otherwise stated. Irish sport images provided by Inpho Photography unless otherwise stated. Wire service provided by Associated Press.

Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for user created content, posts, comments, submissions or preferences. Users are reminded that they are fully responsible for their own created content and their own posts, comments and submissions and fully and effectively warrant and indemnify Journal Media in relation to such content and their ability to make such content, posts, comments and submissions available. Journal Media does not control and is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Switch to Mobile Site

Retail organisation urges against negative budget speculation

While consumer confidence is on the increase, Retail Excellence Ireland warns that spending continues to fall.