Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am glad to be here with my colleagues, Deputy Donnelly and Senator Conor Murphy, to discuss the struggles that small businesses are going through. We are acutely aware of those struggles. In fact, as a party, Sinn Féin was acutely aware of them last year. That is why our alternative budget included the reduction to a 9% VAT rate for the food element of the hospitality sector. We also included a PRSI rebate for employers.

Even at that stage last year, we knew the pressures were mounting on small businesses. We have obviously become increasingly concerned as the months have gone on with the number of businesses that have been closing and what needs to be done there. That is the commitment we give to the witnesses in each of the different sectors they talk about.

I am acutely conscious of the smaller retail shops and the struggles they are going through. I commend all of the small independent retailers. A lot of them are in my constituency and they stay open regardless. They fulfil a huge social need as well as everything else. I know many of them do not take a wage themselves or pull a wage they deserve at the end of the week. That is not right in 2025. In fact, they are subsidising a huge asset to the community. That has to stop.

These are the two concrete ways we see of tackling that. There are also energy prices. For heaven's sake, we have brought up time and again the structuring of the energy prices at EU level and the twinning between gas and electricity. The witnesses will know that it is based on the last output. That is totally wrong. My colleague, Deputy O'Rourke, has tried to get the Government to see at EU level that the setup of marginal pricing does not work. However, as the witnesses rightly point out, the PSO levy, capacity charge, standing charge, electricity tax and the I-SEM trading charge and the carbon tax piled on top of all that means it does not work, so the figures do not add up. I want the witnesses to take the opportunity to speak to those in the context of energy and VAT, and how critical it is that those changes be made.

The theft situation is shocking. The witnesses say that theft can cost a medium-sized retail business up to €100,000 per year. What needs to be done on that?