John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

There has been no tax increase for business since we took office.

The Government's approach has been to identify those areas of policy it can influence to bring about cost reductions or provide supports to SMEs.

The action plan for jobs includes several measures to improve supports for SMEs. For example, a small business division in Enterprise Ireland is being established for the first time. The county and city enterprise boards are being restructured to create an enhanced national enterprise support model for small businesses at local level. The aim of the new model is to ensure a seamless system of support for indigenous enterprise and entrepreneurs. Access to credit is being addressed through the introduction of the micro-finance loan fund and the temporary partial guarantee scheme, which will make it easier for viable small and medium businesses to access finance. Improved tax incentives have been introduced for small business such as the employer's PRSI incentive scheme and Revenue's job assist which provide for significant cost savings for employers which take on extra staff and an improvement in the seed capital scheme for new start-ups.

We are actively working to facilitate more SMEs to compete for public procurement opportunities. There is an increased emphasis on mentoring of SMEs in the action plan and funding has been provided to support a new management development networks programme. Other supports which help companies to reduce their costs through greater energy efficiency are available from Electric Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland. Enterprise Ireland has established a new potential exporters division to deliver a wide range of initiatives focused on helping companies to export to international markets. The Finance Act extended corporation tax exemption for start-up companies until the end of 2014 and provided for improvements in the research and development tax credit.

The Government will report on the delivery of these measures in its quarterly progress reports on the action plan for jobs.

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