Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week, a national plan to help the small business sector recover, and to ensure that employment is sustained, was published. The plan is backed by ISME, Retail Excellence Ireland and the Restaurants Association of Ireland, among others. It recognises that SMEs account for 99.8% of active enterprises and 65% of total employees in the State. It also recalled that 31% of our exports are SME related. This shows how important SMEs are to our economy. These facts clearly point to the significance of the sector for our communities, regions, families and the wider economy. One of the key points in the recovery plan was a request to ensure that improved liquidity schemes, up to €6 billion, are put in place, which better target small businesses. It recognises that most small businesses will require time to recover, and that many will need a minimum one-year payment holiday and a 0% interest rate. It also stressed that key to all loan schemes should be the capacity to make the funds easier to access, which means the Government channelling liquidity to a broader group of lending partners and increasing the level of guarantees on this capital. The fact that these suggestions are coming directly from the SME sector highlights the value in adopting this kind of approach, and I welcome it.

My own sense has been that since the start of the crisis, the Minister has taken a strong and very pragmatic lead and I commend her on that. She was quick to recognise the need to put in place immediate and ongoing stabilisation measures. These include a €10,000 restart grant for micro and small businesses based on a rates waiver or rebate from 2019 and a three-month commercial rates waiver for impacted businesses. As I understand it, however, the commercial rates waiver may be running into some difficulty due to the nature of the contractual obligations that many SMEs have in place. I would like the Minister to elaborate on that and make suggestions for how this could be overcome.

Many businesses in Offaly and Laois will want to know that as soon as possible in order to plan for the future. One business in Offaly that I was in contact with yesterday evening has serious concerns about access to finance. I emailed the Minister about that earlier today. It is very urgent and I ask the Minister to give any help she can because hundreds of jobs are on the line. The same business informed me that it is paying €11,000 every week in insurance costs, despite the fact that there is absolutely no business given the pandemic. Action needs to be taken on the insurance companies. They are the only sector in our economy not supporting or helping businesses in any way. In fact they are hindering business and threatening businesses' very survival. There was mention today in The Irish Timesof a case being taken against an insurance company by a business. Their approach and attitude are totally unacceptable and it is unhelpful at this time. Has the Minister or the Minister for Finance engaged with the insurance companies in respect of their ill treatment of businesses?

On a different point, some businesses will need loans at low or zero interest and others will require direct financial support and grants. Every business is different and we cannot employ a one-size-fits-all approach. Is it possible to give a 30% grant based on VAT already paid by businesses from the 2019 tax year? It would not benefit all businesses but certainly there are big ones which employ hundreds of people that could benefit from something like this.

The Minister has also emphasised that free mentoring and online training are also available for all SMEs, which I welcome. However, there are genuine concerns here with respect to the focus on online retail supports. I recently highlighted some of these difficulties with respect to the Covid-19 retail online scheme. In a reply to a parliamentary question I submitted, the Minister noted that the scheme will only be open to retailers employing in excess of ten people that had a pre-existing online presence, which is not possible for many businesses.

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