Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank our contributors. I have met all the groups individually previously. I understand exactly where they are coming from, as someone who used to own a restaurant, grew up in a retail store and had some retail experience and is now involved in business at a print and design company. I am involved peripherally but I started the company 23 years ago. I feel the witnesses’ pain and I understand. I will not ask many questions. Instead, I will speak in support of the work the witnesses are doing and about what is happening out there.

The 9% VAT rate is a must. It must happen in the next budget for retail and restaurants. When I say “retail”, I am talking about the delicatessen part of the sector. It has to happen. It is not a silver bullet and it will not sort out all the problems or issues the witnesses have, but it will help in cutting back some of the costs. We need to provide more supports for these businesses, whether that be the small and medium-sized enterprises, retail or the restaurants. The 9% VAT rate has to get across the line.

Commercial rates are not fit for purpose, as far as I am concerned. We need to have a look at that issue. Much of the blame is put on local authorities because they collect rates but it the system is run and organised from here, from the rates office. It sets the rate and then the local authorities have to collect it. The local authorities then use that income as part of their budget for all the services they provide in the local area. It needs to be taken away and a brought in in a new form.

We all saw the supports given to the business during the Covid pandemic. Businesses have been hit by a tsunami since then. They have had an increase in the minimum wage and increases in the cost of living and all the other costs such as energy and sick pay. While we all want to be able to look after our employees, we have to be realistic about the way this happened. It happened very fast when it should have on a slower trajectory.

New rules and regulations are needed on holiday pay in order to protect employers. I have spoken to many business owners. One man told me people should have been given holiday days instead. When I asked why he said that at least then he would know when staff were taking their days off. Now, people who would have been in work have a kind of a get-out-of-jail card and can get a sickness certificate from some fellow on the Internet, who could be anywhere in the country. People are not going to their own doctor, which makes the system hard to police properly.

Auto-enrolment is another cost to businesses coming down the tracks very shortly.

We need a change in legislation. We spoke about insurance. Last night on the floor of the Dáil, I raised the cost of insurance and the fact that the Government had put so much work into cutting insurance costs. As far as I can see, and based on what the witnesses have said, the insurance companies are engaged in price-gouging. They have a monopoly in the market because they are all using one or two insurers to cover insurance policies. They are making huge profits. Their accounts for the past year show they had 15% profits here, whereas the norm in other European countries is a profit of 5%. We need to get to the bottom of that. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, are working together closely on that and much more work will be done in the near future.

Energy costs are a huge issue. They are probably one of the highest costs. Businesses are among the biggest users of energy, whether it is restaurants using fridges, cooking equipment, ovens and bains-marie, retail or whatever else. In the small firms, energy costs to run machinery are huge. We need to do something about that. Germany is looking at reducing costs or giving grants to companies to reduce energy costs by up to 50%. That would help hugely. When I raised it with the Minister during a discussion of the Estimates at the enterprise and tourism committee last week, he said he would have a look at it. We need to think outside the box and do something like that.

We need to bring life back into town centres. As I said a moment ago, commercial rates are not fit for purposes and not fit for the businesses in town centres. We all want to have a mix in town centres. While some of the units are full, and I will not criticise any particular business type in those units, we would like to see a better mix. As part of the programme for Government, we will bring in a grant that will bring life back into town centres by grant-aiding the conversion of units over shops. I grew up living over a shop. I played on the street. I know what it is like to have people living in town centres where they create their own footfall and their own lives. Businesses will survive or new ones will start up as a result of having more footfall in their areas.

Having listened to the witnesses and Ms Harrison's story of someone who is at the coalface the whole time, I applaud the witnesses for the work they do. It is not easy out there. It is not easy being an employer, paying the Revenue and facing up to paying all these bills every month to keep the door open. I know many of the members of the groups represented here are not making a profit. For reasons of pride, whether it is because they have a family business or want to look after their employees, many are taking a reduction in pay. In many cases, they are on the breadline as a result. I applaud the witnesses and the work they do. I will do everything I can, as my party's spokesperson on small and medium-sized enterprise and retail but also as a member of this committee, to make sure we address all the issues the witnesses have raised today.