Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am glad of the opportunity to speak on this motion. The Government, the Minister and local authorities must begin to live in the real world this year. Small businesses are collapsing. They are under pressure and are sick and tired of keeping local authorities going, as they have done over the past number of years.

The first issue of concern is rates. Why do local authorities collect rates? What services do they provide to small businesses who pay rates? In my area all they provide is aggravation for people trying to create employment. I will give two examples, of two people who visited my clinic last Monday. The first was a man with a small abattoir. He kills sheep for freezing for people in rural areas. For every 30 sheep he kills, he must leave Westport and take the 30th sheep to Ballyhaunis for testing because of departmental regulations. The other man who came to me employed six or seven people in the garage business. He told me a story about the local authority. Due to the fact he sprays cars, he had to apply for a licence from the local authority. It costs him €540 to spray a car, and the licence from the council costs €600. However, he told me that anyone could go into a shop and buy the same paint and start painting and do so from 5 p.m. until 10 a.m. when the local authority members return to work. That is unacceptable. This man is being put out of business by the State, while the State helps and encourages other people in the black economy. They can travel to Northern Ireland and bring in the same paint and do the same work, but he is trying to be honest and pay his taxes and rates. However, he is sick and tired of having inspectors come into his business every second day.

The same is true of abattoirs. We have closed down more abattoirs in County Mayo because they could not compete. The man who came to me had a similar story. When the inspector came in to him, the owner of the abattoir took up the paperwork, tore it up and said he had enough and was leaving the business. He closed down his business, leaving three or four people without jobs. He could not get up every morning worrying about who was going to come into his business next. He was doing his best and making an effort. Local authorities, inspectors and the Government must realise the private sector is finding things difficult. It is not easy in business currently. There should be no increase in rates this year. I told the Mayo county manager he should cut back rates this year. Why should we have an increase? Businesses are not able to pay an increase. Local authorities must conduct their business properly.

Another area of concern is the new charges being brought forward by planning authorities. When a man from my town applied for planning, the county council imposed a €90,000 betterment levy. Then he went to An Bord Pleanála, which looked for further information. He had to send in a revised plan but by then the local authority had imposed a parking levy of €250,000. Do these officials live in the real world? The man appealed this to An Bord Pleanála, which had some common sense and reduced the levy to €90,000. The man, his daughter and family were about to set up a business, but before even getting started, he had to pay Mayo County Council a levy of €90,000. Are we trying to tell people we do not want employment? Are we trying to tell people we do not want work? Can the public service just think up a figure, throw it out and say it is fine? This must stop now. If the recession does one thing, it may make the local authorities and the Government begin to realise how hard it is for small businesses to survive.

My constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, is now in the House. He knows what I am talking about. Businesses are finding it hard. They are unable to survive and are under a lot of pressure. I warn the Minister of State and his officials that we are sick and tired of regulations. The Minister of State can stop the regulation in his Department because all it is doing is creating jobs for the boys and girls in health, councils and everywhere else while the self-employed and the taxpayers have to pay to keep them in jobs. They are doing their best to close them down and that type of attitude has to stop. We have to encourage, help and tell the employers that we want them to help in this recession and we want to stop over-regulation.

As somebody who canvassed for the Lisbon treaty ratification, I would not have done so were it not for the fact that we needed Europe this time. People are sick and tired of the regulation coming from Brussels, but I do not blame Europe. I blame the Minister of State, the Government and officials in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Every single official has to go ten times further, but while he or she is assured of a pay cheque on a wet day or a fine day, the person who is self-employed must go out and earn it.

See this speech in context