Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)

I have a lot to say in three minutes. I will confine my comments to ISME this time. I want to make it absolutely clear that since prior to 2020 we have advocated for an agency that is dedicated to small and medium businesses. Sometimes this is ignored and we speak about parties that are pro-business and parties that are not. It is absolutely vital that we have a dedicated enterprise agency to address some of these issues. I am not one for setting up more agencies. I would see it as an expanded role for the LEOs but they are not at the table at present. We keep speaking about the overall reliance on FDI, saying we must do something about it and support our SMEs but we are not doing so. We are announcing things for the sake of announcing them but they never come to anything and we are left in the situation we are in. I want to make absolutely clear our policy on this and how imperative it is that it is done.

I do not share the views expressed on the minimum wage. Workers need to be treated fairly and need to be paid a decent wage. I am concerned about the lack of productivity or reduced productivity. More so, should I say, I see opportunities for us to increase productivity using the National Training Fund and other Government incentives. How many times have we gone into shops and walked out again without somebody coming to ask us what we want? It is very obvious the training to sell things is not there. There has to be a focus on increasing productivity, looking after our workforce and seeing it as the main asset we have.

How important is the reduction of the VAT rate to 9% and what will it mean? Next week we will have the budget, and this is a measure that has been put forward.