Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My point is that it is important the Department has a good handle on that because it generally liaises with the local enterprise offices.

If I am coming to a LEO with a business plan and talking to a LEO adviser, it would be helpful if the LEO adviser had some publication or otherwise from the Department, which said it was seeing significant challenges in the sector that were sector wide as these problems tend to be. Leaving aside interest rates, recruitment and all of that, many challenges in sectors tend to be the same for all businesses in the sector. That was what I was saying.

It is probably the same side of the coin for Revenue. Revenue gets to see returns in real time and understands how companies are doing. It sees their VAT, PAYE, PRSI and corporation tax. Every year, it has a good healthy look. It sees the balance sheet if it needs to and so on. If it wants to get a handle on it, it can nearly work it out based on what is happening in the accounts. It is in a good position when profiling sectors to know the sectors that are running into trouble. If Revenue moves on the businesses mentioned, which owe €5,000 or less and which they cannot pay, it is fair to deduce they will go out of business. I would assume there are also one or two staff members around those businesses who are in employment and the question is whether they will be re-employed. I am wondering about the value of going into the Revenue process. Say I owe Revenue €5,000 and have not made a payment or entered the plan with it yet and Revenue tells me it is sending it off to the sheriff or my fees will be doubled, and I will have to pay the sheriff's fees, that would definitely put someone under who cannot already pay €5,000. Is that something Revenue needs to look at? Bearing in mind, these are probably sole traders and very small businesses. Are the companies that owe €5,000 all limited companies?