Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)

I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment to his position of responsibility and wish him well. I know from my interaction with him in the previous Dáil that he has a great understanding of business, especially small businesses in terms of what makes them tick and makes small business people get involved, develop an entrepreneurial spirit and the courage to develop businesses and take on people. I agree with his final point of the progress that would be made if 100,000 of those small businesses were to take on one or two persons, which they are capable of doing if they were allowed to do so. However, they are allowed to do so because they have had their hands have been tied behind their backs with regulation, lack of finance and barriers in many areas prior to and during the Celtic tiger. Their initiative, progress and foresight in many cases has been diminished, dampened and extinguished by their treatment by many agencies. I am not knocking any particular agency but officialdom grew too unwieldy and there was too much form-filling and red tape.

I encourage the Government in this respect and welcome most of its proposals in the jobs initiative. It has acknowledged the problems facing small businesses. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, had a good input into framing this initiative. I hope it will continue and the Government has said that it will be the first of many. We all know what the parties now in government promised prior to the general election, but the trend is that such promises seem to be made by parties in opposition and in government and that is a pity. Deputy Martin said that he did not want politics to be a Punch and Judy show, but that is still going on and members of the public are sick of it. They want real activity, the problems tackled, the red tape cut out and to be allowed to work.

The Government was too soft in many areas, as in the case of higher earners in the public service. The salaries of Secretaries Generals and CEOs of State companies are simply not fair. The Taoiseach and the Ministers took a cut in salary and such reform must extend across the senior public service management.

The issue of rates must be tackled, as it has become a joke. Many of the rates reviews occurred during the Celtic tiger years. A small businessman in my town of Cahir who has paid rates this year suffered a 50% increase in his rates at a time when business is on the floor, so to speak. One has to appeal such a rates increase to the Valuation Office, the people who set the rates in the first instance. One has to pay a fee of €300 or €350 for the pleasure of having one's property rating revalued. Those people then call out and see the building, which will be in the same condition but they do not examine the books and take account of the fact that one's business has diminished and that the rates accruing must be decreased rather than increased.

Local authority charges also crept up in the good times. I was a member of a local authority who voted for those charges in terms of the community aspect benefit of them. We were on a roll at the time and we secured some good community initiatives and supports from such charges but they now have to be re-evaluated because people cannot pay them. Water rates are charged to cover the supply of water into a premises and waste water out of the premises but people cannot afford to pay them. They are unfair because the only people being charged for water rates are publicans, restaurant proprietors and so on. I welcome the cuts in VAT, PRSI and initiatives for lower wages which will help publicans and restaurant owners who were on their knees begging for them.

Many family businesses are being liquidated and suffering scurrilous treatment from their banks - this from the banks that lied all time. The deal from Europe and the IMF was so bad probably because the facts had to be dragged out of the banks. The other new business in town is liquidation. Legislation should be introduced post-haste to deal with liquidators. Many of them charge what they like and often they terrorise business people. We must examine alternatives to liquidation for viable businesses such as examinership or other supports. I am concerned the Construction Contracts Bill seems to have fallen off the Order Paper. Many small construction and associated businesses, with five to ten employees, get nothing if a larger business which owes them money is liquidated. The barristers and liquidators involved in the wind-up have phenomenal and obscene charges. Will the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, check out this racket?

I agree with Deputy Shane Ross on the pension levy and that the vast sums earned by pension fund managers should be examined. I am glad the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Deputy Varadkar, have acknowledged they will examine them. Many pension funds, built up with hard-earned contributions, often perform poorly. Why not impose the levy on pension fund managers? We need to encourage people to set money aside for their pensions as up to 1 million people have no private pension provision. Private pensions are generally under-funded while the State pension comes to less than €12,000 per annum and most will have to wait until they reach 67 years for it. The proposed pension fund levy may create further problems down the line as it may demotivate people from making meaningful pension provisions. Pensions are no more than deferred taxation as one pays income tax on withdrawals. In 2005 the Combat Poverty Agency produced a report on the future of pensions, pointing out that by 2036 the number of people over 80 years in the State will rise to 320,000. We must bear this in mind when addressing this area.

I welcome the Minister's commitment to the 50-day payment by State agencies. I often worked for local authorities and it was difficult when there were delays in getting paid and it was unfair. If an invoice is correct, it should be paid on the due date. I welcome the Minister's enthusiasm to deal with the public procurement process. Sadly, with the previous Government, we heard stories of public contracts going abroad because they were not split up to allow Irish companies go under the bar. If other EU countries do it, why can we not? The public service must wake up to deal meaningfully with this issue.

I am glad Deputy Perry was appointed to the enterprise portfolio. I wish him well and tá súil agam go n-éirí an t-ádh leis.

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