Eoin Hayes (Dublin Bay South, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister for coming in. I welcome him back. I thank all of his officials for being here as well. To start off, I welcome the level of investment the Minister has put into regulation and into the regulatory bodies like the Workplace Relations Commission and the office of the Corporate Enforcement Authority and those kinds of areas. I really welcome the clustering strategy. It is really critical for the economic model as we go forward. As I said to the Minister's officials last week when I met them informally, in some ways the economic model of austerity was saved by the multinationals and the multinational employment that came through. I hope that continues into the next level of volatility we may see in the next phase. However, my fear is that we will not and we will have to turn a lot more to the indigenous economy and invest in indigenous communities and startups. In that vein, I highlight a few things that have come through in reviewing all the materials provided. The IMD report that referred to us as being fourth in 2024 puts us as seventh in 2025 and it highlights the domestic economy being in 33rd place, basic infrastructure being in 44th place and prices being in 46th place. Therefore, there is a problem in the indigenous economy and there is a problem in how we are focusing on it. When we look at the growth and sustainability loan scheme, which is a European Investment Bank scheme for SMEs, it looks like only 49 companies out of a target of 1,300 availed of it. Then when we look at the high-potential startups, we still have the same level since 2022. The numbers - about 12 - engaged in research are the same from 2022 so it is effectively stagnant.

As former Deputy Brendan Griffin said, the tourism numbers have gone down from 10 million to 6 million.

Lastly, when looking specifically at jobs, the gross number across the different client companies is approximately 29,000 and the net number, according to the annual employment survey, is 6,800. That is a drop of 23,000 gross. I received replies to some parliamentary questions recently, which stated liquidations had gone up year-on-year in the past two years, as well as some significant redundancies having come through too.

The LEO stated hiring is at 2,500 out of a target of 3,000. I am trying to paint a picture here of some significant weakness in the indigenous economy. When we look at those figures and areas where there needs to be a take-up of finance or investment or where we need to make more progress with high potential start-ups, we are actually doing very well. It is important for us to consider this in the context of the budget and how we will go forward. In that vein, I would like an answer from the Minister on what his reaction would be to this. Initially, for June 2024 and 2025, the cost of business grant was €400 million. That has been taken out of the budget and has effectively gone down. This would be approximately €5,300 for SMEs, based on the Minister's figures. However, the amount we are spending on consultants and policy research has gone up by €500 million. Is that correct?