14th consecutive quarter of decline shows stark reality for businesses - Mythen

Enniscorthy Sinn Fein Cllr Johnny Mythen has described a new report by the retail industry as stark proof that austerity is not the solution.  Commenting on the Retail Excellence Ireland report which shows that  Irish retail has declined for the fourteenth consecutive quarter, Cllr Mythen said that this decline has led to the loss of 60,000 jobs.

Cllr Mythen said;

"Every month for the last three and a half years retail sales have dropped.  In broad terms this has directly resulted in 60,000 job losses and thousands of small businesses gone to the wall in this industry alone."

"Add the startling fact that 1.8 million people are left with €100 a month after the bills are paid and there you have a fine example of how austerity policies  are wrecking our economy and the future of our nation."

"What this survey is showing us is exactly what Sinn Féin has been saying since the recession began.  If you continue to force austerity on ordinary families then it will result in less money being spent in the local economy, more shops going out of business and more unemployment.  Its seemingly simple economics that our government and their Fianna Fail predecessors could not grasp."

"While retail takes a continuous hammering, non-discretionary sectors including Grocery, Pharmacy and Hot Beverage still trade well.  This is a clear indication that people are not hoarding their money, they are simply spending what little they have on the basics.  How can retail, and our wider economy, recover under these circumstances?"

"This report should be a wakeup call for the government.  Its time they stopped trying to convince us that austerity is working and that we are moving out of recession when the statistics point to the opposite."