Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, the Minister of State and their officials. The Secretary General presented to the committee in July and the committee complimented him - we should pass that compliment to the Minister, the Minister of State - on the huge effort the Department put into the Irish Presidency. Other Departments tend to get all the glory for the Presidency, but the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation seems to do most of the work in terms of the commitment on it. The personal commitment of the Minister and the Ministers of State, Deputies Sherlock and Perry, should be acknowledged.

On the small business act fact sheet, we have done well in six out of the ten measurement issues and are above the EU average. We did not do well in access to finance, design rules according to the "think small first" principle, adapting public policy tools to facilitate and enable SMEs, and environmental challenges and opportunities. On access to finance, the Department brief has indicated that it was advised there was considerable room for improvement. In plain speak, it means we got a kick in the head. This was brought in prior to the introduction of the microfinance scheme and the credit guarantee scheme. As we are now nearly a year into the credit guarantee scheme, what has been the level of uptake of those schemes? How will they enhance our rating in what is the most important measure of what we want SMEs to do, which is having proper access to finance? For a long time we have been saying there is still a serious problem with SME finance. That has now been confirmed by an outside party. On several occasions I have expressed my concern that not enough publicity is being given to the microfinance and credit guarantee schemes to promote their uptake. I seek an update on that.

What discussions are taking place at EU level about an EU approach to SME finance measures? We can only do so much to resource our own schemes. Surely there is awareness at EU level of the seriousness of the position in every member state, so what initiatives will deal with that? Second, on designing rules according to the "think small first" principle - the barrage of legislation and regulation that is choking many SMEs is an issue that has come up in this and previous committees - the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, Deputy Sherlock is doing specific work on the R&D sector and on innovative SMEs, but every SME deserves the chance to be as burden free as possible while still having its responsibilities. We have been told by an outside body that we must do better. What was our score in that area? Similarly, what was our score on access to finance and how does that compare to the EU average?

What was our score on adopting public policy to suit SME needs, which includes facilitating SME participation and public procurement? Where are we compared to the EU average? Are there specific initiatives? The Minister's Department has highlighted the need for increased public procurement but is DPER listening? Have we done enough? Have we pushed enough initiatives to unbundle contracts and to make them more accessible to smaller companies and to give SMEs a chance of procuring? It is time that the Minister's Department takes it gloves off with DPER on procurement and about our rating. I also want to know what our score was on the environmental challenges issue and where we are compared to the EU average.

I will ask about two other issues that are to be discussed at the Council. Cost-competitive energy is a serious issue for our cost base given that we are an island and lie at the end of a gas pipe that is at the end of another gas pipe. What initiatives is the Minister minded to propose to address our peripheral situation? Will alliances be formed with other peripheral EU countries that do not have the energy they need but on which they depend? The cost issue also causes employment problems.

On the discussion about the modernisation of state aid rules, I assume the Minister will use the Council as an opportunity to emphasise that our state aids are in line. What is the Department's view on the reports a number of weeks ago about an informal investigation into state aid? What specific state aid that we operate will be included in the review?