Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Basically the Minister is saying that there will be no change. The Government is failing to acknowledge and take action on what is an enormous crisis facing small and medium enterprises, which the Government itself constantly says will be the driving force and the motor behind our economic recovery. There are 4,000 family-owned businesses in this country employing around 90,000 which are on the line of survival now. Those businesses need a break. Commercial rates are a very serious burden on them. Different countries have different rates models. In Britain businesses are given rates holidays, while in Scotland a differential rates scheme has been introduced. Spain and Italy have models which are bands-based and the rates are related to turnover and profitability and to the notion of giving support to small businesses in town centres and so forth. I urge the Government to examine these models or to consider some model which distinguishes between small businesses and, for example, high street banks. Is it not ridiculous that Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank or Tesco pays the same rate per square metre as a local butcher or florist? That is ridiculous and something should be done about it in order to give a break to the small businesses that the Minister says he supports.

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