Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)

Working capital loans under these schemes would assist companies in maintaining adequate cash levels to meet their vital operational needs. This is a new proposal, although people claim we make none in the House. It works elsewhere, so now is the time to embrace something similar. Some 700,000 people are working in approximately 230,000 SMEs. These industries are dotted across the landscape with three or four jobs in every village, town and country area. They play a pivotal role in securing the lifeblood of areas by keeping people there. When those areas experience job losses, they are not headline losses and are below the radar. Nevertheless, a loss of nine or ten jobs in a small rural area is the equivalent of 500 or 600 job losses in a town. It is important that people be kept in their localities so that they can contribute to the areas' vitality and maintain essential infrastructure like schools, churches and teams. If people are to have a living environment, we must encourage SMEs that provide local jobs. Development in this regard will be in the manufacturing area.

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