John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

I thank my colleague, Deputy Leo Varadkar, for bringing forward this important legislation, which is short and to the point. There has been much talk from Government about national strategies and grand plans for the smart economy as a way of restoring competitiveness and creating jobs. These grand ideas should not blind us to the importance of also finding urgent micro-steps that can have a significant and immediate impact on job protection.

In my opinion, this Bill is one such urgent micro-step. The life blood of any business is cash flow. The Bill fits into the bigger picture of improving competitiveness and of bringing about real reform in the way business is conducted. There is an old business saying that cash is king. This is never truer than when cash is in short supply. I agree with Deputy Feighan that businesses, including small service companies and the retail sector, are in turmoil. This Bill is about the survival of small companies, small family businesses. It is about trying to support the business person seeking to protect his or her business and the staff employed therein.

There has been much discussion about the banks not providing credit to small and medium-sized companies to ensure that they can remain open as they struggle in the worst economic downturn in decades. I agree that the banks can and should do more to help the small business sector. They have received billions of euro from the State for which they are doing nothing in return. They are micro-managing their accounts and providing no new credit whatsoever. This week, the Government injected €4 billion into a bankrupt bank, which raises many questions. Billions of euro of taxpayers money has been put into the banks' coffers and they must use that money to help small businesses. What small businesses really need is a restoration of consumer confidence to ensure consumers generate the cash flow that small businesses need to keep them going. There is a saying that "turnover is vanity and profit is sanity". Sanity and vanity are currently in turmoil. For the small business, the most difficult task is ensuring that payment is received for goods and services supplied on credit. This problem can be difficult enough in good times. In this crushing economic downturn, payment of money owed to small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, is absolutely critical.

The Bill is designed to support small businesses through the provision of a quick and simple low cost legal remedy when an SME encounters serious difficulty in obtaining payment from a creditor. Fundamentally, this Bill is about the preservation of jobs. We must remember that the retail sector, which is the biggest employer in the State, often employs less than ten people. The backbone of this economy is retail trade and services, a sector which has not to date received a State grant. In the current climate, our top priority must be the preservation of jobs and the restoration and maintenance of small companies. We must take all possible steps to protect existing jobs. In addition, we must reduce the cost on the SME sector when it must look to legal remedy to obtain money owed to it. Legal costs can be a significant element of business costs when a small business is forced to take legal action. Reducing such costs is another key step in assisting local businesses to protect jobs.

This Bill strikes the right balance in facilitating a small business to quickly recover what is owed at a low cost. I thank Deputy Varadkar for bringing forward this Bill. I appeal to the Minister of State to take action to address what is going on. It is appalling. The people have no confidence in the Government, as evidenced in the recent elections. Billions of euro has been given, through the State guarantee scheme, to Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland, and to Anglo Irish Bank to allow it to remain open. Little or none of the money received from Europe has filtered through to small companies. This Government has lost the plot entirely when it comes to the restoration and maintenance of small companies. It has missed out on an opportunity to create confidence and, as Deputy Paul Connaughton said, to encourage people to retain jobs. Instead, all we have heard about is job losses and redundancies, the payments for which are costing the State a fortune.

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