Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Donnelly on introducing this legislation because it concerns jobs at the heart of the economy. When researching the Bill, I was very surprised to read in the Central Statistics Office's survey Business in Ireland 2011 that only 0.2% of businesses were in the big business sector and some 99.8% were in the small to medium category.

In fact, 90% employ fewer than ten workers. This suggests a very lop-sided economy, with a big business sector dominated by foreign capital surrounded by a plethora of micro-businesses such as hairdressers, cafes, restaurants, bars, small shops and so forth. It shows the disastrous failure by Irish capitalism to develop a modern, viable industrial base. There is no real linkage between the foreign multinationals and Irish businesses. Irish capitalism can be summed up as a wide range of small to medium sized businesses engaged in enterprise and providing jobs alongside a wealthy elite engaged in speculation and property development with a banking sector focused on lending to this elite. There is a huge hole in our economy which should be filled by larger scale, Irish-owned enterprises. This black hole is one which Irish capitalism will never fill. The private sector-led policies for industrial and economic development have failed and we need a new direction based on publicly-owned companies backed by investment from publicly-owned banks. The development of Coillte or the Irish Sugar Company would be examples of such companies, to be backed by publicly-owned banks.

At present, small and medium enterprises employ seven out of every ten workers in the private sector. SMEs were extremely hard hit by the economic collapse. The collapse in domestic demand, at more than 26%, which is second only to Greece in the history of economic slumps, hit small enterprises particularly hard. Employment in the SME sector fell by 20% in 2011 alone. The Minister said earlier that he accepts that the extremely high cost of the examinership poses a serious problem for small businesses in financial difficulty. Companies that could be rescued, with jobs that could be saved, simply cannot undertake the costly court process, particularly the high legal fees involved when an examiner goes to court. The high cost of anything to do with the legal system makes it unavailable to the average citizen or small business person. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to take the process of examinership for small businesses out of the court system as far as possible. Of course, a balance must be struck to protect the interests of creditors, many of whom may be struggling small businesses too but that is something that can be teased out on Committee and Report Stage. Bringing down the cost of the examinership process by taking it out of the court system would benefit many small companies. Some of them would probably not survive after the examinership process but it at least offers the prospect of giving back money to creditors and retaining jobs.

The Bill also deals with the issues of debt and rent write-downs and, in that context, the Minister and the Government have reverted to the hoary old chestnuts of legal advice, property rights and the Constitution. The Government's legal advice is never disclosed so there is no way to challenge or debate it or to offer alternative legal opinion. Successive governments have regarded property rights as sacrosanct, protected by the Constitution. However, there is a clause in the Constitution which subjugates private property rights to the common good. As Deputy Pringle has suggested, that clause should be tested by the Government. We should now be seeking to subjugate private property rights to the common good in order to retain jobs.

In my constituency of Dublin South Central, many small businesses have gone bust overnight. Many hairdressers, for example, are opening only three days per week because it is not worth their while opening more often. That affects their employees in the local area. Several hairdressers have come to my office seeking information on the examinership and insolvency processes because they cannot continue in business. They have tried really hard in the past two or three years to keep their businesses open, employing local women because they know those women depend on their wages to pay their mortgages and to put food on their tables. They do not take lightly the decision to close their businesses and any legislation that enables us to debate and tackle these issues can only be to the good. I support the Bill.

See this speech in context