Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I am aware from speaking to a range of small and medium enterprise owners of the pressures they feel. I met representatives of the banks yesterday evening and I had a constructive conversation about a number of areas ranging from plans to live up to their commitment for lending this year in parallel with the steps being taken by the Government in the jobs action programme and the alleviation of difficulties for business. The meeting was very constructive.

There is little absenteeism in the small and medium enterprise sector and persons who are ill are genuinely out sick. The problem is that the entire bill for sick leave in the public sector comes back to the Department of Social Protection. What is required is a pretty rational discussion about what is happening because this system needs to be managed more efficiently. I am not sure if a real analysis has been done on the reasons several thousand people are out every day in the public sector. When one compares the numbers with those for the SME sector, the rate of sickness is very much reduced. The average number of working days lost in Ireland is higher than the European average because of this. The Minister for Social Protection has started a realistic and rational discussion about how we can have a more efficient system which does not result in an enormous bill going back to her Department on an annual basis.

I am conscious of the difficulties faced by business and that is why both in the budget and in the Finance Bill 2012 every effort has been made by Government to alleviate the difficulties faced by SMEs. That is why we have proposed the microfinance scheme, the partial loan credit guarantee and other facilities they have been looking for to ease the pressure on them. I am also conscious of the fact that local authorities, by and large, have made every effort to stabilise or reduce rates and individual managers, as they have always had, still have flexibility in looking at the account books of individual businesses that are suffering. Let the discussion begin. No decision was taken by Government on this matter.

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