Mr. Ian Talbot:

I thank the members of the committee for asking such great questions and for taking so much interest in the document. Senator Quinn suggested that we have could have been more ambitious. One of the opening points I made was about ambition. We mulled long and hard over this document because we wanted to be able to stand over it and say it was capable of being implemented. We did not want it to be stripped away to the point where little of it remained.

In the pre-budget submission we made last year, we recommended that the threshold pertaining to the payment of VAT on a cashflow basis, rather than on an accruals basis, be increased from €1 million to €2 million. The Minister and the Department ultimately decided in the budget to increase it from €1 million to €1.25 million. The increase of €250,000 was not enough to make a difference. We felt that an increase to €2 million could have made a difference.

We try to come up with things that can be done, that will be essentially revenue neutral and that have great potential for the rebuilding of confidence. We are trying to get people's mindset away from saving and paying down debt and towards the future. That might encourage them to pursue the extension they have been putting off for five or six years. I am sure the Department of Finance will have a view on the potential VAT loss. That is where we have to examine things like how many households have formed during the last six years of recession, when we have not been doing any building. Families with two children who are living in two-bedroom apartments and desperately need to move will need new carpets, curtains and televisions, etc. All of that activity, on which the 23% rate of VAT is imposed, is not happening at the moment.

Senator Quinn also mentioned procurement. As I stated, while Chambers Ireland fully accepts that the Government needs to save money, be smart and so forth, we must represent our constituency, which is business. Many small businesses which depend on relatively small contracts with local authorities for items such as stationary or paper clips are worried that these contracts will ultimately be provided in a single central contract. Companies are concerned that local printing contracts may be lost to overseas companies. I recognise the challenge presented by the requirement to strike a balance between protecting jobs and securing the best price for everything. We met Mr. Paul Quinn, whom the Government recently appointed as head of procurement. Mr. Quinn has some great ideas and we will seek to support him in his efforts. Nevertheless, local chambers of commerce are afraid of the outcome to which centralised procurement may give rise. This creates an issue for us in any of our outputs.

Senator Quinn and Deputy Collins raised issues in respect of information. Chambers Ireland is concerned about information for small businesses. If one considers the manner in which information is presented to businesses on the Government side, one has the county enterprise boards, which are migrating to local enterprise offices. Although this migration has commenced, it is a matter of concern that the endpoint is not yet in sight. The county enterprise boards typically focus on micro-enterprises with up to ten employees. Enterprise Ireland deals with high-potential exporters and the IDA deals with foreign direct investors. The vast majority of local businesses do not receive any State support for information content. The chambers network has the Enterprise Europe network in place in five local offices, which provides additional assistance to those involved in the export market. In most of the rest of Europe, chambers of commerce are public bodies that receive State funds to provide information to all businesses. While the chambers network in Ireland seeks to fill the information gap, it is a membership-driven organisation and some companies do not see the value in joining a local chamber of commerce. Fortunately, many companies do see the value, but they must help themselves. It is frustrating that people do not read the information we make available or allow it to pass them by. We will continue to push the Government to work closely with the chambers network as the local enterprise office network becomes established.

The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is producing a service level agreement. We are seeking to actively participate in the process to assist in setting out the role of the local enterprise offices, deciding how they will interact with chambers of commerce and other organisations in the communities and ensuring there is no duplication of effort. For example, the chambers network could be undermined if a local enterprise office decides it wishes to do nothing more than run free networking events for non-members. While the development of the local enterprise office network presents some challenges, Chambers Ireland is strongly focused on the need for companies to secure access to information. We recognise, however, that irrespective of how hard one tries, some people will read information without taking it in.

On research and development, it is difficult for small companies to find out whom they should contact. Chambers Ireland produced a book some years ago on in the seventh framework programme, FP7, and how companies can access it. The latest framework programme is Horizon 2020 and Chambers Ireland will take an active role in this area. It would be a good idea to impose on groups and organisations that receive a significant block of State funding an obligation to push some of their money out productively.

Mr. Murphy will elaborate a little on the French model.