Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We all share the Minister's wish to improve the competitive nature of enterprise. The difficulty with the proposal is that the Minister for Social Protection has form. Last year, she pushed through substantial changes to the redundancy rebate payment system. She justified this on the basis of the argument that large companies can afford to make the payment. Nobody disagrees with that but when I asked for a breakdown of the payout from the redundancy fund over a number of years, I was told by the Minister's Department that the figures were not available. Therefore, the Minister did not know how many large or small companies were involved. She made the decision completely ill prepared. I fear she will do the same again. She clearly does not like the business sector and has, since she entered her Department, produced a range of policies that are anti-business. We depend on the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Richard Bruton, to defend the business sector against this.

The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, referred to the SFA. Its figures suggest that 88% of businesses will be affected by cash flow changes if the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Burton, proceeds with her plan. Some 69% of businesses said it would restrict recruitment. Despite all the talk of job creation and the action plan, the proposed measure would restrict the creation of new jobs. Some 61% of firms indicated the proposal may lead to job losses. The decision is in the Government's court and it could have a negative impact on jobs.

In case the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation would like us to believe employers do not pay their share he should note that in 2010, employers paid €5 billion towards the social insurance fund. This is 75% of the total contribution. Does the Minister agree that €5 billion is a very substantial contribution from employers generally towards the fund, and that increasing the contribution will, as said by the SFA when reflecting the views of its members, potentially add to the unemployment problem and hamper cash flow within companies?

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