Eamonn Maloney (Dublin South West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

There have been many victims of the collapse of the economy, principally in the construction industry, when the Celtic tiger came to an end. In the immediate post-Celtic tiger period, naturally, we were all focused on those who lost their jobs, those who became unemployed, those who were emigrating and the people who got into difficulties with their mortgages, etc.

The motion focuses on those who operated small and medium-sized enterprises, including people who, as we now know, had little experience but nevertheless took on the challenge. Alongside these are a great many self-employed people, especially in the building industry, who perhaps only employed one or two people. They found themselves in entirely new territory. We all know that given the environment and the confidence at the time - I am referring to 2006 and 2007 - there was a feeling in many sectors and certainly among many self-employed people that the boom would never end. The nature of the economy tends to be cyclical and this means we can go from one extreme to the other. We all know how it ended. Some of the victims of the fallout are the people we are talking about this evening.

It was not only people involved in the construction industry but those in auxiliary industries as well, particularly in this city and the constituency that I represent who, almost by default, found themselves victims of what happened. I am referring to people who invested in the taxi industry, for example. What happened in this city probably applied in most other cities in the country. People bought into this and spent a good deal of money. Then, when consumer spending collapsed, people, almost like a switch, stopped using taxis, whereas prior to that those in the taxi industry were able to make a living - in some cases a good living - out of it. It came as a shock to the system because, naturally, people thought this would continue, there was a good deal of money circulating and people had spending power.

Many small businesses and self-employed people survived the aftermath of the collapse. Many people who were involved in the boom, whether SME operators or otherwise, thought they did not need protection or some form of fall-back if the economy was to collapse. Although some people accumulated savings for whatever might happen, many others, not necessarily by design, found themselves in the most awful situation. These people had never been to a social welfare office in their lives. They had never applied for social welfare and had avoided going there even though their businesses collapsed. I imagine every other Deputy is has had the same experience as me. These are the cases we hear about in our clinics.

There was a reference last night to the September 2013 report published by the Tánaiste and Minister for Social Protection on the tax system and social welfare. I agree with the recommendation whereby the option is there for people who are self-employed to avail of the social welfare system. If anything is to come out of this debate, it is that people should protect themselves, particularly those who want to be self-employed, and not allow this to happen again.

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