Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I share the sentiments expressed by my colleagues. This is something that we do need to hear and we need to hear it on a regular basis. We will have a chat in private session about how we can best achieve that.

Everyone has mentioned labour costs and labour availability factors. People have also mentioned the need to provide additional supports for business. Nobody is going to say that a policy of more money for business and not more money for workers is a good idea, as that is not fair. Do our guests have suggestions for the Government as to how balance the two? The labour market reforms, and people might use that phrase, are very welcome. At the end of the day, these are local businesses so if their local customers do not have money in their local wallets then they will not spend money so we need to balance the two elements. I appreciate that increasing labour costs can pose a difficulty for some companies. On the flip side, having customers who do not have money in their back pocket equally poses an issue. All of the delegations have been at pains to stress that these enterprises are good employers, and I know that they are, that want to do best by their workers, and I know that they do. We cannot tip the scales one way or another and a balance must be struck. Can the witnesses suggest ways that the Government can strike the right balance?