Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:To delete all words after “Dáil Éireann” and substitute the following:“recognises the fact that there are 200,000 small businesses in this country, and acknowledges the vital role they play in the economy and the fact that they employ 655,000 people; notes the range of measures in place to support business, in particular the small and medium business sector, including the seed capital scheme, the three year corporate tax exemption for new start-ups, the back to work enterprise allowance scheme (self-employed), the employment and investment incentives scheme, the research and development tax credit scheme, the accelerated capital allowance scheme, the Revenue job assist scheme and the employer job (PRSI) incentive scheme; notes the Government’s actions to improve access to finance for small and medium enterprises, including through the temporary partial loan guarantee scheme and the microfinance scheme; notes the commitment to reducing the administrative burden on business across seven key Departments and the Revenue Commissioners, with a view to achieving a 25% reduction by the end of the year, and that administrative burdens within the responsibility of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have been reduced by over 24% so far, yielding potential savings of €206 million per annum for business; notes the Government’s continued commitment to reducing the cost of Government-imposed red tape on business, including through the audit of business licence requirements which is currently under way; notes the Government’s actions in improving competitiveness, and creating and maintaining jobs by reforming the statutory wage setting mechanism and making it more appropriate to our modern economy through the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act 2012; welcomes the fact that all but one local authority have frozen or reduced their annual rate of valuation for commercial rates this year; notes that the Government has simplified and extended the employer’s job PRSI incentive scheme, making it easier for employers to hire someone from the live register and reduce their payroll costs, and that the Government is actively promoting this, and other schemes, that provide financial supports for business; notes the Government’s progress in improving Ireland’s competitiveness, which is reflected in the International Institute for Management Development’s World Competitiveness Yearbook 2012, which was published last May, and saw Ireland improving four places in the overall rankings to 20th place; notes that expenditure on illness benefit in 2012 will be an estimated €847 million and that overall expenditure on disability related schemes by the Department of Social Protection will be in excess of €3 billion; notes that over the last ten years, the number of people in receipt of a disability-related payment has increased by over 100,000 to just under 300,000, representing 16% of the working age population, and that expenditure on disability-related payments has increased by €2.2 billion to €3.4 billion; recognises that the deficit in the social insurance fund (from which illness benefit is paid) is projected to be €1.82 billion in 2012; recognises that in the current economic circumstances, the Department is required to secure further savings on its programmes of expenditure in budget 2013 and subsequent budgets; and conscious of the Government’s wish to maintain, as far as possible, vital income supports to the most vulnerable sectors in society, it is necessary for the Government to examine all aspects of departmental expenditure; notes that the Minister for Social Protection has been engaged in a consultation process with key stakeholders to examine the issues arising from the potential introduction of a statutory sick pay scheme in Ireland; and notes that this process of consultation and consideration is not yet complete and that no formal proposals in this regard have yet been brought to the Government."- (Minister of State at the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy John Perry).

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