Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to be associated with the words about Mary on her retirement and Paul's nice words about James McClean. He has been an exceptional winger from his time in Derry all the way through to Wigan and Wrexham at present. No one should have to endure all the abuse he has had to put up with because of his beliefs and his nationality.

I rise to speak about the serious concerns I have regarding the problems facing small business. Fianna Fáil has always been a party of small businesses. There is a slew of problems coming towards people running small businesses. The auto-enrolment for pensions is coming. It has just come out of the sky and it is just happening. There is no thought put into the cost and expense of getting it set up. There is also the raise in PRSI which we will be looking at for the next five years. We also have the minimum wage, which is increasing by 11% in the space of a year. There is also the VAT increase that will be detrimental to much of our tourism and hospitality industry. The interest rate rises is also an issue. Many of these businesses had been on business rates of 3% or 4% but now they are paying 7% or 8% and could be paying more depending on what type of arrangement or finance they have. I am aware of some that are paying 10%. There is no doubt that many small businesses will be closing the length and breadth of Ireland because of the costs. Some businesses that had been in trouble with their tax warehoused parts of it during the pandemic. I strongly advise that someone might think about all of this. It is great to sit and push new legislation on small business but unfortunately if they close there will be nobody left to employ people. We should redouble our efforts and thoughts in this regard.