John Halligan (Waterford, Independent)

Statistics show that over 1,400 businesses, medium to small in size, went bust over the past two years. According to the Central Bank, 30% of all loans to SMEs are in trouble. Those who could obtain loans are in trouble. In the business section of The Irish Times during the week, it was stated a leading Irish supplier and installer of small-scale renewable energy systems has turned to the United Kingdom to expand his business. His reason is the lack of a feed-in tariff or Government support for the industry. He states, "In many cases, UK producers who availed of a feed-in tariff and fixed their costs have taken their market share, in contrast to their Irish counterparts". He states the number of mushroom growers in Ireland two years ago, 400, has dropped to 60.

The job creation programme states specifically:

Job creation is central to any recovery strategy. Every person who leaves the dole and goes back to work reduces the deficit by an estimated €20,000, spends on average an additional €15,000.

If it costs between €22,000 and €35,000 to keep somebody on social welfare, surely innovative thinking outside the box is required. I refer to the sponsoring of small businesses, which are not paying reduced rates or rent, as is evident in my constituency. Would it not make sense to sponsor a business at a reasonable rate with the amount required to keep somebody on social welfare? We could immediately take 10,000 to 20,000 people off social welfare.

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