John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister, Deputy Bruton, on the great advancements he has made. This is an uphill struggle but we cannot respond with negativity all the time. I have toured the country to meet business people and employers. Yesterday I was in New York where I meet 20 Enterprise Ireland companies which left this country as part of the wave of emigration and are bringing people from Ireland to Irish-American companies. These are bright, new and intellectual companies which are doing exceptionally well.

This Government has considerable respect for the role played by small businesses. We still have 1.8 people at work. We have no fear of 2016 because we understand it is a question of creating jobs, cutting red tape and improving access to finance. The business sections of today's newspapers reported that banks in Northern Ireland are not giving money to business people. There is massive emigration from Northern Ireland and the unemployment rate there is high. There is no point in the Deputies opposite saying they have all the answers or the policies when they are part of a Government in Northern Ireland which is presiding over high rates of emigration and banks that are not supporting SMEs. Deputy Colreavy and I share a Border constituency. It is important when we speak about job potential that we tell it as it is. We must be positive. Business people want confidence and credit in the economy. They do not want constant pessimism. When we go abroad we see the capability of Irish companies.

The Government is working on the issue of access to finance. The banks have been recapitalised. We have developed microfinance schemes and loan guarantee schemes. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, has dealt with these issues. We are cutting the cost of business by reducing the administrative burden. I am working to reduce the current 50 licences required for retail operations and plan to establish one national body by the end of the year. Tomorrow morning I will chair the high level group on business regulation. We are cutting red tape and the cost of doing business. That will make a real change. We are also working to reduce legal, insurance and energy costs. People can reclaim VAT. On upward only rent reviews, a code of conduct has been drawn up for NAMA properties. Rents have dramatically decreased in the NAMA property area. All around the country rents are being reviewed downwards because it is better to get some rent than to have an empty unit.

I am amazed at the commitment on display from Enterprise Ireland. Earlier today I received a call from a company in Spiddal which has taken on additional staff with the support of an Enterprise Ireland investment fund. How many Sinn Féin Deputies go into factories to meet their proprietors? I also got a call from a company in Sligo with greatly enhanced potential. Go into the companies to meet the operators and staff. Last week I was in the Mansion House. It was a tonic to see high potential start-up companies doing extraordinary things. These are the people we should be discussing instead of coming out with negativity. We have 1.8 million people working and people do not want this negativity. The last several years have all been negative. We want the positive. One positive leads to another positive. It is about getting people spending for Ireland. We have consumers who want to shop in the community but there are negative stories about pessimism. Certainly there are people who are unemployed but our job is to get them back to work.

The one-stop-shop for business will be rolled out in every county to deal with mentoring, administrative, banking and legal costs, loan guarantees and microfinance. The banks are engaging with the Credit Review Office. If people are refused credit they can appeal the decision but banks are not going to give money to a proposal if it is not viable. The Minister, Deputy Bruton, is working tirelessly to get foreign direct investment. He returned from Texas this morning and has been working all day. He is still on a mission in terms of meeting foreign direct investors. Barry O'Leary is attracting foreign direct investment. It is an uphill struggle but we are only 100 weeks in Government. Miracles take a while longer and Deputies are wrong to assume they will get to the top of the hill simply by entering Government. We are not taking over the policies of Fianna Fáil in any sense.

Cross-Border economic development is close to Sinn Féin's heart. I visited Newry last week with InterTrade Ireland. There is close cross-Border co-operation with Northern Ireland companies in the South. InterTrade Ireland is the best cross-Border body of them all. The Sinn Féin Deputies should meet its CEO and the companies it supports. I met a host of companies from the South and the North. The Opposition is spinning the motion to suggest it is all negative.

The Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, mentioned Springboard, the ICT action plan, the Momentum plan, the Youth Guarantee for those under 25 years, JobBridge, Intreo - a fantastic concept - and emigration. Emigration from Ireland is not forced. I found the people whom I met in New York and Philadelphia a tonic. I met some of Deputy Michael Colreavy's colleagues there also. I found it a sheer pleasure to meet Irish people who were there legally working in companies. Over 88,000 jobs have been created in the United States by Irish companies and jobs are also being created in Europe. We no longer live on an isolated island. Ireland is part of Europe in which there 23 million SMEs. Ireland is not just a small village and this is not the Ireland of 30 years ago. Ireland has a population of 4.5 million and 98% of what we produce is exported. A report issued last week indicated the value of our exports last year was €193 billion. Therefore, it is not all bad news.

I get annoyed when Sinn Féin tables a motion such as this because it does not stack up in any way, not for the people I meet who are confident business people who see a bright future for Ireland and believe in job creation. Our job in government is to promote them. The backbone of the economy is small business, in which we are making a massive capital investment, as stated by the Minister. This investment is being made by non-banking sources, but we are also dealing with the banks. The Taoiseach and the Minister are meeting the banks to discuss the loan guarantee. We are not being fobbed off by them.

Sinn Féin needs to examine seriously its own policies. It should not come down here to say this is what it is doing in opposition, when where it is in government it is not doing anything. In Northern Ireland there is massive unemployment and masses of people are leaving. Sinn Féin should not think it has the answers for here when it does not have them in Northern Ireland where it is certainly not providing them. It should state the facts. I know the situation only too well. I visit Enniskillen frequently and other areas across the Border and know exactly what is going on. Sinn Féin is in joint government in Northern Ireland and does not have a magic wand. The matter is not as simple as that.

Ireland holds the EU Presidency and will host the Competitiveness Council meeting in May at which it will deal with the issue of SMEs internationally and the issue of access to credit. While we welcome Sinn Féin's sentiments in this regard, it has come up with some very poor arguments. Where is its plan? It is a voodoo plan and does not stack up. If we ran with it, the country would be totally bankrupt. It suggests we borrow to employ more State employees when the objective is to cut costs and get people back to work. That is what we are doing and we will succeed. We will have our job done by 2016, by which time we will have Ireland back working again and recognised in Europe. I am very happy to support the Minister on this issue.

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