Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

I welcome the Bill and the Government's response to it. I congratulate Deputy Varadkar for progressing this issue. The proposal to increase to €3,000 the amount which can be claimed in the small claims court is eminently sensible.

The proposal to extend the court's remit to include business debts may seem a small matter but, from a business point of view, it is significant. Earlier today, I spoke about this proposal to a local man who runs a medium sized business. It is a modest proposal to provide a simple mechanism for the recovery of small debts. Like the owner of many small and medium enterprises, this man is having difficulty getting payment from customers. I was surprised by the enthusiasm of his response when I explained what I would be talking about this evening. He said this change would transform his debt collection. He said the big stuff is not a problem. It goes to his solicitor and proceeds to the courts. However, defaulting by customers or other small businesses is having a serious impact on the viability of firms and a measure like this would make a practical and real difference.

The current position of small and medium sized enterprises is perilous. When a cheque bounces, as it does these days all too frequently, it is often the result of a chain reaction as debtors default or cheques bounce further up the line and a series of businesses can be affected.

Bouncing cheques is only one of a number of negative factors which seriously impact on these companies. There is an onus to respond politically to this crisis which is affecting small businesses. When banks are in trouble the Government responds and billions of taxpayers' euro are spent to shore them up. Yet simple inexpensive measures like this one relating to the small claims court can and should be taken speedily. I hope the Minister, in seeking time, will not delay this unduly.

There are approximately 250,000 small enterprises, employing up to 800,000 people. If even half of those companies employed one extra person we would not have the current unemployment problem. Instead, we see profits shrinking, people losing confidence, businesses closing and jobs being lost in manufacturing and service industries across the board as well as in construction.

Extending the remit of the small claims court will help but the Government needs to do much more. Last week, the Labour Party launched a policy document arguing the case for getting credit flowing to business. We have already proposed that European Investment Bank funds could be drawn down through a straight vehicle for engaging lending to businesses. Similarly, consideration should be given to a working capital guarantee scheme for viable businesses.

The contrast between the experience of small and medium enterprises and Anglo Irish Bank is startling. Some €4 billion of taxpayers' money is being injected into a bank which has not given out a loan since September 2008, and more billions are sought. Meanwhile, small companies desperate for capital are being refused credit. This morning, Deputy Eamon Gilmore sought information from the Taoiseach about loans which had been taken out by senior staff in Anglo Irish Bank. His were simple questions. Who had been given the loans and how much were they for? The questions were not answered. The Taoiseach either did not know or was not telling. Anglo Irish is a State-owned bank. The public have a right to these answers. It is another indication that the Government, despite the recent elections, is not only incompetent but is in denial. Meanwhile, businesses in the private sector struggle to keep their doors open.

The long-standing issue of late payments has been mentioned many times this evening. The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, ISME, did an impressive piece of research in April showing that businesses wait 69 days, on average, for payment. Only one in five companies are paid within 30 days, 33% experience delays of 90 days and 10% wait more than 120 days for payment. I appreciate that there has been a response from the Government, particularly because the State is by far the worst offender. I cite the example of the HSE as a particularly bad offender. While Government commitments are very welcome, we need hard analysis to see if the practice is living up to the promise.

This raises the issue of the State's approach to small and medium enterprises at national and local level. The crass heavy-handed approach of local authorities in relation to commercial rates and water charges cannot continue. In my own county of Wicklow, 446 businesses are under threat of disconnection of their water supply. Their supplies are threatened because they have not paid their water charges. County Wicklow Chamber of Commerce, the umbrella organisation of all chambers of commerce in the county, has advised its members not to pay, "until such time as the Council has furnished full particulars about the charges and the charge basis has been reviewed in detail". Every day, 550 million litres of water are taken for free from County Wicklow to Dublin, where Dublin City Council charges businesses €1.5 per unit. This leads to a loss of income to Wicklow of €250 million per year. This is a long-standing problem to which I do not expect the Minister to find a resolution. However, it is an issue.

There is also a lack of transparency with regard to water charges. At the very least, people are entitled to know what they are paying for. The request by businesses in Wicklow for transparency is perfectly reasonable. I am not the only one who thinks this. In response to a question about water charges in the past few days, the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Dick Roche, said Wicklow County Council, "...cannot say where levies are being used and cannot say how much is being collected. Specifically relating to water charges, there is no excuse for haphazard operation. There is also no excuse for attempting to ladle additional costs onto businesses for water charges. The charges should be neutral, just cover cost and not be a profit centre". The Minister of State has a point. Local authorities are levying businesses because their funding tap has been turned off by the Government. That will place an onerous burden on struggling businesses. I hope the acceptance by the Government of these issues, specifically the proposal in the Bill, indicates that it is getting the message that we cannot continue with a business as usual approach because business is not as usual.

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