Ms Patricia Callan:

In the presentation, I gave figures on the profitability of small businesses. Let us be real. If a person running a business is not making money, she is going out of business and everyone who works for her is going to lose their job. No matter what anyone says about the societal implications, the big picture or macroeconomic implications, if a person running a business is not making money, she will go out of business and everyone who works for her will lose their jobs.

At all points we must ensure that the basic principle is that we have to make a profit. Profit is not a dirty word. Essentially, we need risk takers to establish businesses and we want a more productive and supportive environment for them to do so. Let us broaden the bigger concept in terms of what will solve all our economic issues. Why not make risk-taking easier? Why not have social welfare for the self-employed? Why not have equity in tax treatment for the self-employed? Why not have capital gains tax for entrepreneurs set such that it makes sense to sell a business here rather than move operations abroad? There are far more big issues that we could get into in that context.

Let us return to profitability and the dynamic of our economy. Fully 97% of all companies employ fewer than 50 people, of which 84% are micro-firms employing fewer than ten people. Some 53% of all people on the national minimum wage are in three sectors: hospitality and accommodation, retail, and other services. The average profit in those firms ranges from €14,549 up to €21,470. I do not know why people have picked an increase of €1. I would love to hear the justification for a €1 increase. Where is the economic analysis on the basis of what is actually in the legislation around that? Does the Senator really believe a blunt instrument like that, which simply increases business costs, will work? A business owner has no way to recoup that in her margins or her ability to sell. At a basic level, how is she going to stay in business? That is a critical point in all of this.

The argument around the domestic demand is a lovely one. We all love the idea of being paid more, having more money in the economy and it being circular. Again, if a person running a business has an inability to pay, then she is not actually going to stay in business. I was struck by the unions emphasising the use of that clause. I have been in this business for some time and there is no one in my memory running a company who would risk her business reputation by going to a third-party institution which she does not know, because she is not experienced in third-party institutions, and say publicly that she has an inability to pay. That would simply kill her business entirely. She would be gone out of business in the morning.