Tom Neville (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I thank the witnesses for attending and apologise for being late. I have read some of the briefing documents that were circulated during the week. A bugbear of mine since I was elected is the cost of insurance for businesses. Whether it is motor insurance or otherwise, it has been absolutely astronomical, particularly for businesses. Business owners are in fear of the insurance bill and increases of 20% or 30%. Usually, when forecasting costs in a business, the forecast is based on inflation but increases in insurance have been nowhere near the inflation rate. As the witnesses stated, it is not possible to plan ahead because business owners are waiting for the shock to come through and are wondering if it will end up closing their doors. It has a knock-on effect on the business, particularly small business owners who have to grapple with the accounts, HR and staff as well as the actual core business function.

I was a sole trader working in sales consultancy. Many plumbers or carpenters want just to do plumbing, etc. It is not that they do not want to deal with the business-side of it but they are not au faitwith it. They are good at what it is they do. I know we are examining the cost of business generally but we should examine what would help smaller businesses in particular. This would help rural areas of Ireland. We currently have an unemployment rate of 5.8% or 5.9%. What would incentivise them to come back to work? We should examine having some sort of back-up service to help them with compliance, accounts and HR.

Based on today's presentations, I think that we also need to examine the cost of hiring staff. This does not refer to the minimum wage. I want to see the minimum wage increased. This relates to compliance and the complexities of hiring staff and the costs involved. To get to full employment, we need to examine that issue. I know from trades people, whether a builder or a carpenter, that they are flat out working seven days a week. However, to take that next jump to hire someone is too big a step for them, so they pull back and turn away business. A big issue arising from the recovery is to get those sole traders' businesses to pop up so that they can hire two or three more people. The conduit between that and hiring staff needs to be examined by the committee. That is based on some of what I have read here today.

I have a question similar to that of Deputy Quinlivan. We see all the costs of doing business between accommodation, insurance, rates, etc. If we were to prioritise, where are the quick wins? The witnesses are at the coal face and have done their research. From their experience, where are the quick wins? Would it be in tackling rates or insurance costs? I know we want to tackle it all but if we were to tier them, has there been any analysis on where the quick wins are?