Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)

We would appreciate the timeframe information. I suggest a common-sense approach to this issue. The leaders of the various different business groups met us this morning and they admit they are under significant pressure. We discussed employment legislation, but in general they are under pressure and they need us to cut as much of the red tape as we can.

Rather than just proposing a cut of 25% in five years' time, I suggest we set an interim target such as a proposal of a cut of 15%. We could immediately cut out the obvious red tape without having to undertake major assessments and talk to the small and medium business sectors. We could then make some progress within the next 12 months on this issue.

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