Linda Nelson Murray (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I could not wait for all the witnesses to come in here today. Anyone who knows me knows I believe anything to do with the increased cost of doing business is such an important subject. I thank all the witnesses for attending. I thank Mr. Cummins and Mr. Hayes for meeting me over the past couple of weeks, and also Mr. McDade. I have worked with Ms Buckley over the past few years and it has been great. I have also dealt with Retail Excellence Ireland. I am very happy the representatives are here.

I am on this side of the table because I was on the representatives’ side of the table. I had to come out fighting for my business and ended up going into politics because of it. Therefore, I totally get what the representatives are saying.

I thank Mr. Cummins, Mr. Collender and Mr. Hayes, from the Restaurants Association of Ireland, for sharing their story. As they said, the price of steak has gone up by nearly 100%. A restaurant cannot serve a fillet steak that cost €25 or €30 for €60, so it has to absorb the cost. In our business, we serve food, although not steak, to a few hundred people every weekend. I am absorbing the cost as well. Even with the increased cost of coffee, I cannot charge any more than €4. I am already charging €4 for a cup of coffee. You cannot charge any more than that, so you have to absorb the cost somewhere.

We are a nation with amazing food, and in this regard I fully support the delegates regarding the VAT rate of 9%. My colleague Deputy John Clendennen, for whom I apologise because he has had to step out to a clashing committee meeting, is a big advocate of the VAT rate of 9%. It is something we will be pushing with the Minister for Finance and the Minister for enterprise.

The Government has definitely tried to do its bit over the past couple of weeks on personal injury guidelines. There was cross-party support and we really pushed the matter in the Seanad, as Senator Fitzpatrick, who is also a good advocate, will vouch for. I am delighted to see that there has been a pause. All of us now need to put the pressure on insurance companies to ensure they are examining all the insurance reforms we have made over recent years and reducing premiums. We should not see premiums stabilised; we should see them coming down. Again, there would be cross-party support for all this.

Is RGDATA hearing from members that rent is an issue? I hear this a lot. I do not believe anyone has raised it here yet. I know of a business that has faced an increase of 100%. Its lease was up and it got a letter stating that if it did not pay 100% more, it would have to leave, although it had been in business for a long time under the landlord. Is this an issue RGDATA is encountering?

Senator Mary Fitzpatrick and I will be talking about defamation later. We have raised it and will be bringing it up in the Seanad again tomorrow when considering Third Stage of the legislation. We will be talking to the Minister for justice about it.

On the figures, Deputy Gogarty asked about defamation cases and shoplifting. We have 3,500 defamation cases in Ireland and a population of 5.3 million. By comparison, there are 53 million people in the UK and 3,500 defamation cases. Therefore, there is something wrong. We need to sort out the defamation law. There is new defamation legislation but we need to make sure the law is strong enough such that you can tap somebody on the shoulder and ask whether he or she has paid for a product without worrying whether you will be brought to court over it. I totally agree with the representatives on this.

Sometimes employers are afraid to mention increases in wages and sick pay because none of them wants to see their employees not getting what they deserve. Nobody does, but it is about being supported in this regard. Employers need to be supported, whether it is through a PRSI rebate or help with the tax on energy. We need this to coincide with what is being done for employees. It cannot be a question of everything going in the employees’ direction and not ours. I fully support the representatives on this also.

I was a little concerned about Ms Magnier’s point on borrowing. If the SFA is saying that only 13% of its members have borrowed money for their businesses, it should be noted that if they do not borrow, they cannot grow. Perhaps they cannot manage the cash flow or invest in the business. What is the hindrance in this regard?

Reference was made to the public tender process. Only yesterday I spoke to a small business that was absolutely petrified that if its current contracts go to tender, it will never be able to cope with tendering and also compete with another business. I would not mind having the witnesses’ opinions on that.

Mr. Broderick and Ms O’Meara did exactly as I did a few years ago. You need to get the emotion into this. It is great hearing from the likes of Ms Buckley and Mr. Cummins and the people from the SFA but real-life stories are what a lot of us listen to. I thank Mr. Broderick and Ms O’Meara for giving these. I would like to add to their stories. We need to support business owners in dealing with the pressure they are under mentally because of all the costs, the shoplifting and the defamation cases. Behind every social media post, complaint and video put out is a person who is perhaps sitting on the couch watching somebody defaming or giving out about their business. There may be a family or couple affected. Sharing bad news on residents’ groups forums and sharing bad news about businesses is not cool. I do not believe it is the way of Irish people and we need to remember that we must support businesses mentally as well as with costs because they are dealing with a lot daily.

I thank the delegates. I have left them with one minute although I have asked about five of them to answer questions.