Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I take this opportunity to wish my colleague from Longford-Westmeath, the Minister, Deputy Burke, the best of luck in his new role. It is a great honour for him, his family, friends and supporters and for all of us in County Westmeath that he has been elevated to Cabinet and I genuinely wish him well in the months ahead.

One of the biggest challenges he has is how his Department is going to support the SME sector. We have heard about the assessment of the cumulative impact of the proposed measures for sick pay and auto-enrolment. One would have thought the Department should have done that report prior to introducing all these changes so they could have been introduced on a phased basis. We talk about the grant that is being paid out now, but I will give the example of Wholesome Kitchen in Mullingar. It is going to get a grant of €3,500 but the measures that have been introduced by Government over the past 12 months have added an additional €155,000 per annum to its business costs. While the grant of €3,500 is very welcome and there is no disputing that, the extra cost is €155,000. What we need to look at, and what I am asking the Minister to commit to now, is splitting the VAT rate between food and accommodation, lowering the VAT rate and also ensuring the PRSI rate recognises the fact the minimum wage has increased.

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