Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)

Anyone involved in an Opposition party will know that a strong debate usually take place as to what will be the subject of a Private Members' motion. No Private Members' motion is ever tabled lightly. I take it that Fine Gael pondered long and hard about choosing this subject for debate, and that is the way it should be. The time allocated for debates in this House is precious and we are always conscious of the time. Therefore, this motion must be taken seriously.

I accept fully the bone fides of this motion, but in the current circumstances people are inclined to clutch at straws to make life better for different groups. There is not a Deputy in this House who does not have sympathy for people running small businesses. They keep our towns and cities going, our communities together, provide services and, to a great extent, keep the lights on. Therefore, there is a great deal of sympathy for these people because they did not make outrageous or outlandish profits but kept their businesses ticking over. They have always found it difficult to pay the charges levied on them and we have had a great deal of sympathy for them, particularly those of us who served on local authorities and would have been aware of the difficulties they encounter on a day to day basis. In the approach to the Estimates every year, we have received pre-Estimates submissions from small businesses.

If we were to do what the motion calls on us to do, and I understand the reason it has been tabled, the very essence of local democracy could be affected. Local democracy in this country is very limited in any event. We probably have local administration as opposed to local government. I constantly advocate that local democracy, local administration or local government should be given far more powers and support than it has been given. Those in local government are charged with collecting our rubbish, ensuring that we have clean water, our streets are lit, traffic flows, we have a safe thoroughfare, footpaths are kept in good repair, housing is provided for particular groups and that our cities and our towns run smoothly. If we are to deprive them of the very few streams of income they have, which is what would be the effect of this motion if taken to its logical conclusion, not only would the individual citizen suffer, but businesses would suffer. Businesses, by their nature, depend on the thoroughfare outside their premises being well kept to encourage people into their premises.

Small businesses face significant competition from major shopping arcades and shopping centres located outside towns and cities. Such shopping centres are a major attraction because it is easier to park there and if people want to buying large household goods, it is easier to shop in the relaxed atmosphere afforded by such centres.

However, towns and cities are still a major attraction for people. In Cork in particular, we talk about going to town. It has been the tradition to go to town on a Saturday, whether to buy meat, clothing or to shop for the home. It is a tradition and part of what we do. When we walk through our towns and cities, we expect them to be kept neat and tidy and the footpaths to be maintained. That is the work local authorities do, and sometimes we forget that. The number of people local authorities have let go has also been forgotten in this debate. There are no more local authority social employment schemes. The horticultural input and additional services delivered by local authorities are no longer provided. On top of that, it is now proposed that they should be deprived of this source of revenue. I accept the motion has been tabled in good faith, but if it were to be enforced, we would have a much more depleted local government and the environs in which we live would be in a much worse condition. None of us want that.

There are actions we can take to assist small businesses, but they know that what keeps a small business in operation is the individual service a business gives its customers. Small businesses know their customers and that service is important to people, regardless of how remote we feel from multinationals. It is still important to people to know, when they walk into a shop, that the product for sale is safe and of good quality. Those are the things that will keep small businesses going. To say that local authorities would be deprived of funding to keep small businesses in operation is self-defeating. If the local authority cannot provide the service we charge it with delivering, people will no longer go into our towns and cities because they will not be safe, clean and pleasurable to walk around. This motion contradicts the provision of such services.

There is such a desperation to ensure businesses remain in operation that people will table motions such as this one. I do not believe the motion has been thought out fully, nor is it a positive step to take. We must think more seriously about this issue and be more clever in ensuring businesses remain up and running until we come out the other end of this recession, and we will come out the other end of it.

I am a fan of local government. The work it does is understated. We criticise those involved in it, but it is the essence of democracy. It is where the people are truly represented. That is the reason turnouts in local government elections are usually higher and depending on the ward or the activity of a local authority member they can be even higher. People have a close affinity with their local authority and when times were good, local authorities expanded their services and created an environment that was much better than was the case in the past. Now that times are tough they are cutting back on services. They have no choice in that regard. They have let go hundreds of people on temporary contracts who expected to go on to become full-time employees. Those are decent, honourable people who would have given great service to the State but the local authorities had no choice other than to let them go.

Every Member in this House has sympathy for small businesses. Without them, our shopping experience would not be as pleasant as it is, but this is not the way to proceed. Depriving local authorities of a funding stream is not the way to proceed.

We should not always pick on the easy target. It is easy to do that and it is a knee-jerk reaction. We are all sympathetic but we must think harder and find other ways of ensuring this economy stays on its feet until we come out the other end of this awful recession.

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