Edward Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I appreciate what the witnesses said about the local enterprise office, LEO, forms and the fact there has been a 46% reduction in one of those forms, but I still get complaints that some of them are seen as cumbersome and are very long. I wish to make that point. I know the witnesses are well aware of this issue, given their contributions earlier.

Another issue - I do not know whether it is relevant to the work of the witnesses – is financial literacy for business owners. I have seen this issue myself with small business. Often owners do not know how they are doing apart from the fact that the bank account is overdrawn or based on their account three or six months after year end telling them how well they are doing and whether they are making a profit or a loss. I brought this issue up with the LEOs in Wicklow where I live. Many small business owners do not understand simple concepts such as variable and fixed costs, their break-even number or stripping out VAT. For example, a small coffee shop owner says they have to pay tax of 50 cent for a cup of coffee costing €3, but that is not the case. The VAT element is charged to the customer. The real sale price, therefore, is €2.50, or whatever it is. That whole idea of financial literacy is a huge weakness. It leads to a lot of small businesses going bust that do not need to go bust. Do the witnesses have any thoughts in that regard?