Retail Ireland announces new Chairman
Retail Ireland, the Ibec group that represents the retail sector, has announced Willie O’Byrne, Managing Director of BWG Foods, as its new Chairman. Mr O’Byrne will serve a two year term and replaces outgoing Chairman, Conor Whelan, Managing Director of Eason Group. He will be joined at the helm of the organisation by Brian Donaldson, Chief Executive of the Maxol Group, who takes on the role of Vice- Chairman.
Upon his election, Mr O’Byrne said: “I am delighted to take on the role of Chairman of Retail Ireland, Ireland’s foremost representative body for our sector. Retail is an exciting, dynamic and innovative industry and I look forward to working with the Retail Ireland team to ensure that the many issues facing the sector are fully recognised and addressed during my term as Chairman. I further look forward to realising the ambition contained in our new strategy ‘Shaping the future of Irish retail 2020’; which will serve as our blueprint for the development of the sector over the coming years across four key areas – careers, competitiveness, confidence and community.”
“The industry is facing a number of challenges which we as an organisation must address immediately. These include the fall-out from Brexit, which has already impacted upon consumer sentiment, with retail sales growth softening considerably in the months following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union. We also must work with Government to address the rising costs Irish retailers face which- allied to the emerging threat from foreign online only retailers- threatens to undermine the future sustainability of the sector.”
Retail Ireland has six key policy asks of Government over the lifetime of our new strategy which include the following:
Centralise Government support for the retail sector
Introduce a tax credit to support Irish retailers to compete with international online retailers
Grow consumer disposable income
Reduce the cost of regulatory compliance
Increased support for retail training and education programmes
Regenerate Ireland’s high streets
