Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I support the amendment to the motion in respect of small and medium enterprises. Three critical areas are being addressed, namely, the ability of the banking sector to make cash flow available to small business, the need for a major reduction in the amount of regulation, bureaucracy and red tape that small businesses have to endure and - the most important area - the return of confidence in the small business sector.

The support from Enterprise Ireland and from the IDA to assist small businesses to get into new markets is encouraging. That we are getting into markets such as Brazil, China, India, Russia, Japan, the Gulf states and former Soviet states is an example of the opportunities that exist for small businesses in Ireland. We must be export orientated and in that respect I note what the Minister had to say about the guarantee scheme being put in place. That scheme must be put in place as a matter of urgency.

The banking situation is critical. There is no doubt, no matter what anybody says, both Bank of Ireland and AIB have made life very difficult for small businesses in this country. We understand this is because the banks themselves do not have the cash to give out, but they have to move from the culture we have seen in the past two years whereby they have not been prepared to take any risk. It is vitally important that we capitalise the banks as soon as possible, but it also vitally important that we give back to the local bank manager the ability to be able to make decisions. Every decision in Bank of Ireland and AIB currently has to be sent to a credit department in Dublin that has no concept of what is going on across the country. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation must get the banks to give back decision making powers to the local bank manager. He knows his customers. He knows what is a good risk and a bad risk. This is the most critical issue.

The second most critical issue is the need to put an end to the crazy aspects of regulation. How many agencies are involved in the regulation of small businesses at present? We have an army of inspectors making life difficult for them. NERA is the biggest offender. NERA was set up because of a number of cowboy employers that needed to be dealt with a few years ago. However, the majority of employers are not cowboy employers. I am not advocating for one moment that there should be any diminution in standards or workers' rights, but there is no need for this plethora of inspectors from NERA, the Health and Safety Authority, local authorities, the HSE and so on. They are making life impossible for small business people who are trying to make a go of things.

As we are now bringing confidence back into the sector and are coming out of the recession in spite of difficulties, I believe people will spend more and small businesses will benefit. I am satisfied we will see a return to growth in this sector, provided we deal with the first two issues I mentioned.

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