Rose Conway Walsh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

That is a small amount of money to be able to fix this. That money will be regained tenfold and 20-fold if these jobs and businesses are protected. Let us not be short-sighted about it in allowing them to go to the wall. We need to protect the businesses and do everything we possibly can, even within our silo-institutionalised thinking as it is at the moment, to make it cost-neutral. It would be cost-neutral to the State, if not even swayed in the other direction where the State will benefit from ensuring these businesses can continue. If this problem is not solved, the social welfare bill will be enormous, and would have to be offset against the €14 million or €15 million it would require. There is an urgency and immediacy to this issue. Communities and businesses are being split and it is unfair. The State agencies that are involved in this can solve this problem before the end of the week by sitting down and ensuring the subcontractors who have already provided services and equipment for this are paid.