When the retail planning guidelines were published at end 2000, it was indicated that they would be reviewed following experience with their operation. I have been considering the activation of such a review in the light of discussions at Government level on maintaining the competitiveness of the Irish economy, and have also conveyed this position in a recent meeting with RGDATA.
In view of an indication that the company referred to had expressed an interest in entering the Irish market, I and officials of my Department took the opportunity – during the course of a visit to Scotland last February to my housing and planning counterpart, the Scottish Minister for Social Justice – to visit one of the stores operated by this company, accompanied by some of its senior managers.