John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)

I thank Deputy Ó Cuív for the time given to me in this slot. I congratulate the Minister of State, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan, on her appointment. I have not had an opportunity to say that to her in a debate in the House. She plays a very important role in the Government in terms of trade abroad. I can identify with the work she is undertaking on behalf of the Government. I agree with her that Irish companies that trade abroad are to be applauded for the work they undertake. It is not easy for them to move from the comfortable trade area this shore was at one time, go to a country where there is a different culture and way of doing business and face the challenges of currency costs and everything associated with that. The work of Enterprise Ireland in conjunction with those companies is also to be applauded. We do not celebrate Irish companies, we do not do enough for them and we do not tell them often enough how good they are at trading abroad. Against all the odds, they win huge contracts which mean so much to us at home in sustaining and creating jobs, paying taxes and assisting society in the difficult challenges we face.

Much more could be done to support Enterprise Ireland. I hope the Government will look at different and imaginative ways to support that organisation and ensure that it can play its role to the fullest in what it does abroad for Irish companies. Breaking new ground in the countries the Minister of State has just mentioned, in Asia and the middle east, is difficult. It is not simple for Enterprise Ireland or its officials, but they do it with great professionalism and pride in the country. They have the confidence of the companies that travel with them as they break that ground and make new markets. There is much potential in those markets and I welcome the Government's initiative in supporting companies that will go and break into the markets of Brazil, Russia, India, China and Africa. That is where the future is.

We should be proud of our Irish companies. They often take to foreign markets technologies they have tried in Ireland and which were not even tested here. When they win orders they are often asked to show a recommendation from a company in their own country. I say this particularly about the HSE, which all but refuses to buy products from Irish companies, even companies that are trading abroad. We need to address this so that when an Irish company goes abroad it can show recommendations and big orders from Government Departments in their own country. We should not be afraid to support our own. I understand the Minister of State at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brian Hayes, is dealing with the public procurement issue. It is also partially the responsibility of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to impress on Departments the need to improve their procurement methods, include the SME sector and give SMEs the opportunity to test new products at home so they can go abroad with confidence and say, not only that they have the stamp of the Irish Government but that the Government is supporting and buying from them. That is critical.

I know Deputy Perry's background. A company law reform Bill has been stuck in his Department for a number of years. That Bill should be debated by a select committee. It would be useful to have a law on the Statute Book that pulls old company law together and speaks in a language that is understood by Irish companies and by foreign investors. Foreign companies could examine such a law and decide if Ireland was an easy country to deal with. We need to debate the Bill, at the beginning rather than at the end of the legislative process.

I have one disappointment concerning the Government. The previous Government turned out to be a shambles at the end and did not do much service to the country. The people were demanding a new style of politics and a new way of doing business. That is what they voted for and what the parties now in government convinced them about. The Government side now has a huge majority. The people gave the Government a mandate to change everything, reform the public sector, do politics differently and do business differently on their behalf at home and abroad. The Government has abandoned its promise to tackle the issue of upward-only rent review, for example. As a businessman and a politician I am disappointed by that. The Government created an expectation over a nine month period that it could be done and that the Government would do it. At the end of that period, those businesses are faced with the stark reality that rent reviews can only go upward. Small business people have serious difficulties in dealing with those rents. In 2012, when all the blow and bluster of the budget is over and they face into the reality of trade, they will still be faced with that cost, which is embedded in their system and cannot be changed. They looked to the Government for that change and the Government did not deliver it to them.

Fine Gael and Labour candidates spoke to the electorate about the need for reform of commercial rates. I still hope that, following the recommendations of the Valuations Office, the Government will take up that challenge. This is another business cost that an employer, or business owner, cannot reduce because it is set by law and it is for the Oireachtas to change that. Fine Gael and Labour said they would do it but they have not done so. There is still time for the Government to turn around and address these issues.

Deputy Perry spoke about €3 billion being made available from banks this year, €3.5 billion next year and €4 billion over the next few years. Let us be honest. The banks are not lending money. Deputy Perry knows that, as a businessman. When Fianna Fáil was in government we said the banks would lend €3 billion and €4 billion, and they did not do it. Deputy Perry is now addressing the very same problem with the same rhetoric. It is not happening. Businesses are in real trouble.

The budget emphasises the importance of the exporting sector, and rightly so. However, in the retail sector some people who were hanging on by their fingertips are now hanging on merely out of pride. They are proud that their businesses were handed down through generations and are in good central locations in our towns, villages and cities. They are now hanging on out of pride, hoping they will get through the Christmas period and that the upward-only rent review and rates issues might be sorted. Those issues have not been sorted. They are now faced with a poor Christmas trade and poor prospects for next year. That is the difficulty for them and we need to do something about it.

The budget did not do anything to give confidence in that area. It has not restored to the general public the confidence that was required to get them to go out and shop.

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