Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not against it. I do not think it is a bad idea.

My principle is when one makes decisions on policy one starts with what one wants to achieve and then decide whether one needs a new agency to do it. I am not saying the Deputy is responsible for this but there is a default position sometimes in Ireland that the solution to any problem is a new agency, task force or maybe a citizens' assembly. I tend to start with what the objectives we want to achieve are. We have identified a gap in helping a cohort of businesses and the way we have decided to deal with that, at least for now, is to expand the role of the local enterprise offices. They are really good and getting better at what they do. With the budget allocation they are going to expand their role to businesses that have more than ten employees and moving up closer to 20. The Deputy has already seen the way Enterprise Ireland has expanded its role in recent years and done so very successfully. However, if it does not work I would not have a closed mind to establishing something like a small business administration like the one in the US.

Sometimes this does not come across in media coverage but I point out there are fairness, competition and state aid rules. Often one will deal with a business, which could be a shop, a barber or a butcher, that feels it is not getting any support from Government and sometimes they are not. They are getting support on energy and got support during the pandemic but sometimes the reason they are not is that the business is in competition with another butcher or barber down the road and for the Government to back one disadvantages the other.