FSAI Brexit E-learning module designed to bring food businesses step by step through all of the various food import requirements that will have to be met to continue to trade with the UK post Brexit. RGDATA members who trialled this found it extremely straightforward and helpful in their journey to get Brexit ready.

The Government has announced a public consultation on  the design of a Deposit and Refund Scheme in Ireland.  The consultation documentation can be accessed here.

All submissions should be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and the deadline for receipt of submissions is 5pm on 12th  November 2020.

RGDATA will be making a submission on behalf of independent retailers and we welcome your views to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley urged Minister for Retail Damien English to ensure that retail and other town centre businesses are consulted and included in the programmes and policy development to deliver the Town Centre First policy promised in the new Programme for Government “Our Shared Future”. Minister English was chairing the quarterly meeting of the Retail Consultation Forum which was held via conference call on Thursday24/9. “Independent retailers welcome the Government funding that is being put into town centre regeneration and Covid-19 mobility schemes like cycleways and extended pedestrianisation but the shops and the businesses in the town centre must be consulted and engaged in the development of the plans so that they deliver the desired results – to make our town centres safe, attractive and vibrant,” Buckley told the Forum.

Tara Buckley will be one of the key experts interviewed in a series of podcasts on the Town Centre First policy commitment in the new Programme for Government “Our Shared Future”. Click here for details.

The Food Safety Authority has a new series of free online Brexit webinars to help you get your food business Brexit ready.  The first of the Brexit Bite series Be ready for 1 January 2021 will take place live on Wednesday 7 October at 10am. 

In this short Brexit Bite, Anne-Marie Boland (FSAI) will provide you with practical information on what to do now to prepare for 1 January 2021.  Anne-Marie’s presentation will include:

• An overview of food import requirements
  •  Brexit and food labelling changes
  •  Information on food placed on the Irish market before 1 January 2021

There will be an opportunity to ask questions at the end of the presentation. This free event will be held online and will last 40 minutes.  To register please click here.

The quickest and easiest way for retailers to keep up with these every-changing times is by using the RGDATA app.  Launched last May, it is fast becoming the go-to place for industry updates.

The RGDATA app is available now on Google Play and the App Store.  Use your RGDATA membership number (or M0022) for first time access and share with your team.

The HSA will host a series of on-line webinars, aimed at assisting Irish companies in their preparations for Brexit, starting on October 1st 2020. During this series of webinars, companies will be informed as to the implications of Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol for them and what they need to do now to ensure both continuity within their supply chains and compliance with relevant EU Regulations. 
The dates, times and speakers for each webinar are as follows:

October 1st. 10am. Brexit -Implications for Accreditation. Adrienne Duff, INAB
October 7th. 10am. Brexit – Implications for Industrial Products. Alan Costelloe, HSA
October 7th. 2pm. Brexit - Implications for Transportable Pressure Equipment. Alice Doherty, HSA
October 15th. 10 am. Brexit- What you need to do if you source chemical products from the UK. Majella Cosgrave and Sinead McMickan, HSA

The webinars are free to attend. Further details and a link to registration are available here.

RGDATA has made a submission to Minister Eamon Ryan on the Government’s plans to introduce a so called “Latte Levy” on single use beverage cups. RGDATA called for a total ban on all non-compostable cups. The submission also argues that applying a levy to all single use cups could lead to more non-compostable cups in circulation. “Independent retailers have invested significantly in changing to the more expensive compostable cups so they should not be treated the same as non-compostable cups,” RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley stated. Read the full submission here.

RGDATA Director General Tara Buckley did an interview on RTE Radio one The Business show on Saturday to highlight the issues that independent retailers faced with aggressive anti-maskers. Buckley said that the shops, convenience stores and supermarkets that RGDATA represents had gone to considerable expense to make their stores safe for their staff and customers and had taken all reasonable steps to make sure their customers followed the expert health advice. “Store owners and their staff have had to break up fights between customers; deal with aggressive anti-maskers; handle threats to sue them for refusing entry to a person not wearing a mask. In some instances the owner or staff or security personnel at stores have been assaulted, spat at and shouted at,” Buckley told RTE.

Is there someone on your team who has gone above and beyond the call of duty during Covid-19?  Nominate them to be in the draw, with a chance of winning a seven day break in a Talbot Collection Hotel. 
The Talbot Collection with hotels in Dublin, Cork, Wexford and Carlow are also offering RGDATA members and friends a special Retail Hero Rate of €60 B&B. Offer available from September 1 to June 30 2021.
Call 01-2887584 or email your nomination to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Nominees will be seen by RGDATA only and will not be made public.