NI's Sunday Trading Set For Shake-up

While cross-border shopping is now much reduced after VAT increased in the North, news that longer trading hours on Sundays is being considered by the NI Social Development Minister, Alex Attwood, will be watched with interest in the Irish Republic.

The SDLP Minister has published a discussion paper outlining options for easing the current restrictions on Sunday opening.

In December Mr Attwood said he wanted to review Sunday opening hours: "My priority is getting the balance right between earlier opening and retaining the tradition of Sunday as a family day.

"Easing the current restrictions could help the local economy, benefit the tourism and support regeneration," he said.

Now, Mr Attwood said there were various options available, such as no change, meaning large shops stay open between 1pm and 6pm on Sundays and also an option of allowing large shops to open between noon and 5pm or to allow large shops to open for six hours between 10am and 6pm - as per the English model- or to have large shops opening earlier - at 11am and trading to 6pm or for total deregulation - which is the Scottish model.

The SDLP Minister said he wanted to ensure that everyone in the community has the chance to comment: "I encourage them to do so as part of this process.

"Comments are also invited on a range of related issues such as Easter Sunday opening, Christmas Day trading, browsing time and exemptions for certain large shops."

Responding to the options, the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (NIIRTA) has called for no change.

Glyn Roberts NIIRTA Chief Executive said: "While we understand fully that Minister Attwood is approaching this issue with the best of intentions, we take the view that the current laws 'aren't broke so why fix them'?

"The current laws are preferably adequate for small and large retailers to trade and offer consumers ample time to shop.

"NIIRTA has concerns that small traders such as newsagents and convenience stores could be adversely affected if the UK Multiples are allowed to open all day on Sunday," he said.

"Many of these small stores depend on selling newspapers and other grocery items such as milk and bread on Sunday mornings.

"These stores are also facing significant challenges from poor Planning policy and expensive costs in complying with the Tobacco Display Ban and many larger retailers have told us that all day Sunday trading would actually cost them more in terms of staffing, while essentially making the same profits as they would under the current system when they trade from 1-6pm."

The executive continued: "Tinkering with the opening times or complete de-regulation will not in any way support town centre regeneration as the Minister has outlined.

"We will be meeting Minister Attwood shortly to discuss his options, but we fail to see the benefits of any change to Sunday Trading Laws which will help retailers large and small nor support our Town Centres."

(BMcC/GK)