RGDATA submits to Oireachtas Covid-19 Committee on economic recovery

“Taxes on windfall profits should also be considered for the insurance companies that are not lowering premiums,” said RGDATA director general Tara Buckley

RGDATA calls for "a sufficiently resourced, cross-departmental national taskforce and national action plan for town centres"

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Independent retail representative group RGDATA has made a submission to the Oireachtas Covid 19 Committee, which is currently looking at what needs to be done to ensure economic recovery post Covid-19.

In the submission, RGDATA outlines a number of practical focused measures to reopen the economy, which it believes should be recommended to the government.

These measures, which derive directly from feedback from RGDATA’s members, include a proposal to establish a national taskforce on town centre regeneration.

RGDATA says city and town centres need to be given support at a national level so they can adapt to the “new normal” of socially distanced safe spaces.

“Creative urban design, spatial planning and fiscal policies will be a critical part of the overall solution and must be put in place to support the transition,” RGDATA states. “Unless we take radical action to address reduced footfall, increasing vacancies and declines to commercial activity, we risk exacerbating the economic downturn in towns throughout the country.”

A key recommendation from RGDATA is that the recovery programme must prioritise sustainable town centres and support them to thrive. The group believes the Department of the Taoiseach should lead a sufficiently resourced, cross-departmental national taskforce and national action plan for town centres, to revive Ireland’s town centres in a new post-pandemic world.

“The overarching objective must be to enhance liveability, increase housing supply and support sustainable, active transport, local SME activity and the retention and creation of local jobs,” says RGDATA.

For the full submission and details of all proposed solutions from RGDATA, click here.

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