Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail)

We will continue to pursue that credit being opened up to flow to businesses to protect the economy and jobs; Deputy Feighan mentioned a 100 year old shop in County Roscommon.

The Government is conscious of the problems being encountered by businesses in terms of cash flow and credit availability and the consequential debt problem. The availability of credit to business is essential if we are to work our way through the current economic difficulties, maintain employment and ensure economic growth in the future. The Government is committed to and focused on ensuring that the necessary actions are taken to underpin the economy in general and the enterprise sector in particular. The enterprise sector, including the small business element of that sector, is vital to Ireland's economy which is why we have taken the necessary steps to address the credit facility difficulties being encountered. My colleagues have outlined what is being done on the recapitalisation of banks and how initiatives are being structured to provide a number of supports for small and medium sized businesses in particular.

This House need be in no doubt about our commitment. We will continue to make the necessary decisions and take the necessary actions to support enterprise, maintain employment and return the country to a more stable economic environment. It is for that precise reason that we do not oppose the Bill. It has considerable merit though not in its current form. We need to consider the measures to ensure there are no negative impacts, not only on the operation of the small claims procedure but also on consumers and those small businesses that we seek to help and protect. We have a number of concerns about the details, particularly on the possibility that the proposal will fundamentally alter the ethos of the procedure from a pro-consumer to an anti-consumer measure. Equally, we do not want to introduce any measure that has the potential to provide an advantage to large businesses to pursue small claims debt against individual consumers and small businesses with ease and minimum formality. This is especially the case against the background of the significant investment and modernisation that has taken place over recent years in the court services where a dedicated Commercial Court has been established to specifically determine business disputes.

While the Bill proposes increased access, it does not provide the necessary safeguards for consumers and small businesses. I do not wish to see any measure introduced which will make them even more vulnerable, especially in the current economic circumstances. That aspect needs to be thought through and carefully analysed to ensure that whatever further mechanism and procedure is put in place is targeted appropriately.

As I already stated, there is merit in the proposal, in particular in introducing a procedure to facilitate certain types of small claims by one business against another. This is particularly the case where many small businesses encounter difficulty in getting paid for goods or services they have provided on credit. I would not be in favour of allowing big businesses to avail of such a procedure. Introducing such a procedure will require appropriate and legally robust definitions to distinguish between business types and sizes and in particular definitions appropriate to the small enterprise and business sector in Ireland. This is an issue the Department can examine in more detail in conjunction with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Attorney General.

The Minister has indicated his willingness to consider the €2,000 limit applying to the small claims procedure and the matter is the subject of an ongoing review. The procedure is provided for under the District Court rules which are promulgated by way of statutory instrument; no primary legislation is involved. The very successful Commercial Court was also established by means of the rules of court. All increases in the maximum amount to date have been implemented by statutory instrument and establishing changes by primary legislation may have an effect of removing the type of flexibility that operates so effectively with secondary legislation.

The Government is on record as recognising that the extension of the small claims procedure similar to that operating for consumers has the potential to aid the small businesses and enterprises struggling for survival at present. However, in introducing such a measure we need to ensure that it does nothing to undermine the ethos of the existing procedure and that it is targeted only at small businesses and is not open to use by large firms. For this reason, the Government requests the postponement of the Second Reading for six months. This is not because we do not see an urgency in dealing with this but because we would like to take on board what has been said and proposed by Deputy Varadkar and take into account the views of Members.

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