What a Whirlwind! RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley Reviews 2024 and takes a look at what’s in store for 2025  

2024 was a rollercoaster ride for RGDATA and independent shops with daily challenges piling on business owners navigating all the new Government and inflation induced costs, additional regulatory burdens, the introduction of the Deposit Return Scheme, a daily retail crime spree and a General Election.

The huge increase in the cost of doing business in convenience retail was the key driver of RGDATA campaigning activity in 2024 with weekly interactions with Government and regulators on the huge increased burdens they were putting on hard pressed family owned essential shops. RGDATA delegations led by President Colin Fee and Directors Padraig Broderick, Annie Timothy, Rachel Twomey and Leona Pender, with support from individual members who travelled from all over the country, made passionate representations to Ministers, Public Servants, and Government and Opposition TDs and Senators.

In what was a first for RGDATA , we took to the streets and supported an SME Day of Protest march through Dublin city centre finishing up outside Leinster House . There impassioned SME business owners from retail and hospitality including RGDATA Director Padraig Broderick, were invited on stage by MC Ivan Yeats. They made strong pleas to the Government to address the crippling costs, make a meaningful PRSI intervention and reduce VAT on food service.

“We are an award winning supermarket in the centre of Croom – yet the future looks bleak,”  Padraig told the crowd. He got a great cheer when he said that he had recently extended his shop into the empty bank building next store – the bank that had tried to close him down during the previous recession.

Budget 2025 & Election 2024

RGDATA developed 7 Asks for Budget 2025 and we did an Election 2025 campaign highlighting the necessary interventions that the new Government needed to keep viable local independent shops and supermarkets at the heart of vibrant communities.

RGDATA sought assurances from the political parties about supporting local independent shops and after the election we ensured that many of these issues were included in the Programme for Government. The next challenge is to make sure that the promises about supporting SME businesses are delivered on and the commitments made in the Programme for Government become a reality.

RGDATA’s nominee to the Upper House, Senator Barry Ward was elected a Fine Gael TD in the DunLaoghaire Rathdown constituency leaving an option open to nominate anew candidate to contest the 2025 Seanad election. RGDATA nominated outgoing Fianna Fail Senator Mary Fitzpatrick for a seat on the Industrial & Commercial Panel.  Mary spent January travelling the highways and byways to get votes from Councillors across the country and was elected. She will be a strong voice for family owned shops in the Seanad and in the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party.

Retail Crime

The daily challenges posed to shop owners and their families and staff by increasing violent and aggressive perpetrators of retail crimes was another significant campaigning issue for RGDATA.

A significant meeting with the Minister for Justice and the Minister for Retail at which RGDATA , the other retail trade organisations and individual shop owners told the Ministers and Garda representatives about the daily reality of dealing with retail crime and voiced suggestions about how to tackle it. In a positive move most of those suggestions are now in the Programme for Government agreed by Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and a group of Independents. 2025 will see that campaign to tackle retail crime continue and we must ensure that all the promises made by Ministers Helen McEntee and Emer Higgins are now delivered by the new Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan and the new Retail Minister Alan Dillon.

RGDATA’s Annual Crime Survey 2024 also got a lot of coverage but the depressing statistics continue to reveal that more action is needed to deal with this vital issue for the safety and security of our shops, the people working in them and the customers supporting them.

Deposit Return Scheme

2024 also saw Ireland launching it’s a deposit and return scheme for PET bottles and aluminium cans. Independent retailers were at the coalface – investing in Reverse Vending Machines and introducing customers to a whole new way of recycling their beverage containers.

Much time and effort was put in by shop owners and their staff dealing with malfunctioning RVMs, a transition period where barcodes and Re-Turn logos were not always present, emptying, cleaning and re-loading RVMs and dealing with frustrated customers.

As the scheme reached its first birthday on February 1 2025, Re-Turn announced that over 1 billion containers have been returned and recycled.

In quarter 1 2025 the Retail Handling Fee is being reviewed and RGDATA has two representatives on the Re-Turn Retailer Forum and we still hold the position of representative of the non-producer retailers on the Board of DRSI.

A delegation comprising RGDATA members from the Minister’s constituency led by RGDATA Board Director and Super Valu retailer, Rachel Twomey, highlighted the additional cost implications of the increased National Minimum Wage

Looking ahead to 2025

As the new Government, albeit looking very similar to the old one, gets its feet under the table there are already a few pressing issues that need to be addressed.

Business Costs

The ink wasn’t dry on the party manifesto promises to tackle costs for small businesses when the then Minister for Health signed new regulations adding €1,800 annual licence fees for shops that sell tobacco and vape products. There has been no consultation on this massive increase and no SME test to check if it is reasonable, necessary and affordable. RGDATA has made representations to Enterprise Minister Dara Burke and Retail Minister Alan Dillon. The Programme for Government promises to tackle SME business costs with a new forum and RGDATA is seeking for this to get up and running and for the SME test to be applied to these all other licence and fee costs.

Retail Crime

RGDATA will be pushing here for the promises made by both Fianna Fail and Fine Gael to tackle retail crime to become a reality. This includes a new Taskforce on Retail Crime and commitments to explore fixed penalty notices for shoplifting and Anti-Social Behaviour, a compensation package for victims of retail crime and a specific crime of violence against retail workers. The changes to the Defamation laws have also been revived and EGDATA will be seeking amendments to the Bill so that it works for shop owners and staff working in shops.

Insurance Costs

Despite all the hard work by RGDATA and the Alliance for Insurance Reform throughout 2024 the depressing outcome continues to be stubbornly high premiums. There has been no discernible budge from the insurance companies despite all the reforms impacting on claims, pay outs and costs. To add salt to the wound the Judicial Council came out in December recommending a 17% increase in personal injury awards.

RGDATA will be working together with all the other SME businesses to do everything we can to persuade Government not to deliver on the Judicial Council’s recommendation. The AIR insurance costs survey is currently live and we will be encouraging members to fill it in so we have strong data to work with.

Retail Planning & Vibrant Town Centres

RGDATA will continue to be the only trade association that actively engages in the planning process and we will be keeping a close watch on any proposed changes to planning laws that might impact on the Retail Planning Guidelines and the Town Centre First policy. The Programme for Government reiterates the commitment to Town Centre First and promises some new schemes relating to dereliction and vacancy and living over the shop.

Garvey’s SuperValu