Deirdre Clune (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I am happy to support this motion. It is a very important motion and I hope it will bring about some change in the Government's thinking in its support for small firms across the country. I particularly like the proposal that the Government establish a fund to support small businesses and avail of the funding available from the European Investment Bank.

Small firms are the backbone of this economy. Deputy Varadkar outlined how 800,000 people are employed by such businesses. People who operate small businesses, be they retailers, professionals, traders or entrepreneurs, are the people who are taking risks. They are taking risks when they lease a premises, employ people and buy in stock. In many cases, it would be easier not to take the risk. I am sure it would be easier to take a job as a PAYE worker and to let somebody else take the risk, but these people are providing employment throughout the country. The Government should recognise how important small and medium enterprises are to this economy. Many of them are hurting at the moment. They are worried about how they will trade coming up to Christmas and whether they can keep their staff. They are worried that the banks are not supporting them as they once did.

A report produced recently by ISME claimed that 54% of companies were refused applications for new finance or the extension of their existing credit lines. A similar survey in August stated that 20% of companies were at that stage. That is a huge difference in three months. The firms that were successful could not meet the stringent conditions attached by the banks to secure funding. Many of these firms have been in existence for ten or 20 years. They have a long commitment to trading and providing employment in Ireland, but at the moment they are finding out that finance is not available. Last week, we heard about a woman who set up a speciality tea shop, but who could not get finance to provide the stock to keep her going until Christmas. Anybody who knows anything about retail knows that to have access to that kind of finance——

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