Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Of course, that is the difficulty at present. This time last year we could not have predicted that we would be in this scenario. Indeed, we had other issues that we could not predict at that point that we were living through.

In relation to the upward revision of GDP forecast, I note that it is largely driven by exports and at the same time there is concern in relation to consumer spending falling. The SMEs were badly hit with Covid-19, particularly those that had to remain closed as a result of the pandemic restrictions. It seems that drop in the forecast of consumer spending could hit SMEs. How will that impact SMEs and what are the Minister's view in that regard?