Conor Lenihan (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

In overarching terms, an issue on which the Government is working closely, one which has arisen time and again at Cabinet level and in other discussions, is the possibility of having a unique business indicator or number to enable businesses to transact business with the State as an individual. I hope such a development would assist small businesses.

I concur with Deputy Penrose that red tape is the curse of small business. This issue arose recently at a Competitiveness Council meeting I attended in Prague in place of the Tánaiste. Governments throughout the world are struggling with the question of how to eliminate the red tape and bureaucracy we impose on small to medium-sized enterprises which account for 65% of all businesses in the European Union. This is a unique and distinct problem for the Continent of Europe, including Ireland. The burden of bureaucracy is greater here because our businesses tend to be smaller than elsewhere in Europe. Relatively large companies qualify as small businesses in Europe when considered in the context of the structure and status of Irish businesses.

It is important that regulatory impact analyses are conducted well and published. The Department publishes these analyses on its website and it is open to members of the public to judge the Government on its actions and its decisions not to proceed to legislation. The quantity of legislation we produce in the House must be reduced.

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