Mary Fitzpatrick (Fianna Fail)

I thank the witnesses for coming in today. I apologise for being in and out but, as Mr. Hanley mentioned, we have the defamation Bill in the Seanad. I was nominated to contest the Seanad by RGDATA, which represents a lot of small retailers and independent, indigenous Irish businesses. I hear Ms McCabe, Mr. De Luca and Ms McBride. I get it. The reason I have been in and out of the Seanad is because I am on the case of the Minister and the Department with regard to the defamation Bill. I have amendments in and we are seeking to try to rebalance the dynamic between the retailer trying to operate their business and those who are actively undermining those businesses and services in our communities.

I am sure it is not lost on the witnesses the absence of much interest in their contributions from Labour, the Social Democrats and Sinn Féin. I guess it is because the points they are making do not at all flatter or support their political arguments and direction. It is an important point to make because as the witnesses very eloquently outlined, they are representing indigenous Irish businesses, which are valuable businesses providing employment, support and services in all of our communities. I absolutely accept the evidence they are giving at this Oireachtas committee, in that changes that have been made by the Government and the State are undermining the viability of their businesses and their capacity to continue to provide employment and services in our communities. As a committee, we take it very seriously.

Mr. Hanley and I engaged earlier this year and I was glad we made some progress and had some success. I hope for similar success on the defamation Bill.

On insurance, I again accept and support Mr. Hanley's assertion that small businesses are paying more for less cover despite the fact they are doing more. They are upping their game in terms of health and safety, employee responsibility and welfare and all of that. However, on the international benchmarking, I would like to understand a bit more about what Mr. Hanley is calling for. I am particularly thinking about the European context. We talk about the European Union and the Single Market but there is not much harmonisation. At least, it appears to me there could be more harmonisation. There would be a real opportunity there for the European market to improve our competitiveness as a European market if there was greater harmonisation. I would appreciate Mr. Hanley's views on that.