NINE MEMBERS of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment are due to visit Dundalk today to see the damage caused to local trade by the exodus to shops in the North.
Earlier this month, Superquinn announced it was closing its store in the town because of losses resulting from the flow of shoppers across the Border.
Elsewhere in the town, large numbers of retail premises lie unoccupied or are about to be vacated.
The visit comes as another survey shows up the large price differential between prices on either side of the Border. Dundalk Chamber of Commerce found that prices in two supermarkets in town were up to 46 per cent more expensive than across the Border in supermarkets in Newry for a basket of 31 food items.
“The real focus for us has to be on these price differentials,” said Bill Tosh, chief executive of the chamber of commerce. “If we don’t sort this out, we’re buggered.”
Yesterday, the cross-party delegation visited Ballyclare, Banbridge and Belfast in the North and talked to planning experts and retail representatives to gauge the effects of the trend there.
They also paid a courtesy visit to the Stormont Assembly.
Today, a working lunch is scheduled with the chamber of commerce followed by a tour of Dundalk.
Mr Tosh said his message for the committee would be “do nothing and all of the traders on this side of the Border will go down the tubes”.
He called on the Government to implement a recommendation by the Competition Authority to lift the cap on the size of retail outlets.
If there wasn’t a desire to do this nationally, it should be implemented in areas adjacent to the Border, so that retailers could compete with stores twice their size north of the Border.
Mr Tosh also called for an official investigation to ascertain whether food retailers in the Republic were engaged in profiteering.
Committee chairman, Labour’s Willie Penrose, acknowledged that many retailers in Border areas were facing challenging times, with warnings of substantial job losses as a result of the financial downturn and the flow of shoppers to the North.
Superquinn’s announcement, which involves the loss of nearly 70 jobs, had given the trip, which was planned beforehand, even greater importance, he said.
“It will allow members of the committee to see at first hand how currency fluctuations and differences in taxes and prices, along with higher business costs such as energy, waste and rates, are impacting retailers in Border towns.”
Latest estimates put current cross-Border spending on household items in Northern Ireland by shoppers from the Republic at €500 million a year.
The group will today meet Glen Roberts, Northern Ireland retail trade association.
The fact-finding trip will also include a visit to the Centre for Renewable Energy at Dundalk Institute of Technology.