Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Beidh na Teachtaí eile isteach ar ball. I too congratulate the Tánaiste and wish him all the best in his new position. We need a dynamic Department for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I am supporting the fund today but it obviously will not be enough because it is minuscule in comparison with the health budget. It must cover everything, including small self-employed coach owners and so on. Some of the ones that were contracted to Bus Éireann have been supported by 50% funding but the others did not get a penny. Many people over 66 years of age are self-employed, such as shopkeepers, bus owners and funeral undertakers. There is a wide range. I welcome the fact that na gruagairí and the barbers were back open yesterday and the queues outside William Walsh Barbers in Irishtown, Clonmel and many others was amazing. That is an art and it is a cultural event as well. The social distancing was impeccable and the people taking bookings and everything else was great.

All the way along, business is what makes us tick. Take any business. I was just thinking about this when I walked in and saw how few people were here in the spacious surroundings and the ambience.

I said last week that we should not be here unless the full Dáil was sitting. If a business had an A option or an option of a place like this, it would not be considered because the business could not afford it. We cut our cloth according to measure. That is what every business must do. Many self-employed people and their staff, where some have them, have a great relationship. It is not like what happened in Debenhams, or what happened with The Nationalistin Clonmel and the Tipperary Star where conglomerates took over, sacked many staff and then got Covid payments for the rest of them. What is going on in big business is disgusting. It is now taking over everything. Many small businessmen or women started with a dream after school. Many of them did not even go to college. Some of them have been working for up to 60 years. A woman from Roscrea was in contact with me several times. She lost her husband early in the year and was devastated that she could not open her shop. It is her life to open the shop gach maidin and to meet and serve the customers. There is an interaction and a loyalty. I should declare I am a self-employed business person, and the loyalty of all our customers is valued and respected. It is a two-way street.

There is great difficulty with tying the grants to rates. The council is doing its best but it told me only last week that it had not received a penny from the Government to match the funding it wishes to give where it is giving the holiday or break. Many people in the towns of Tipperary ranging from Carrick-on-Suir to Clonmel, Cahir, Tipperary town, Cashel, Nenagh, Templemore and Roscrea are getting bills for the second moiety of rates in July. Some of the rates were doubled or trebled since last year under the review. They do not have a hope. At one time one got something for paying rates. It might be a wheelbarrow of salt if there was frost and ice or the refuse was collected. One got different services from the local authority, but now one gets zilch. We need to help them.

There are huge areas involved in this. The arts industry is on its knees, including country music and Irish music. I love the céilí, the rince seit and rudaí mar sin. The dancing schools need support and help. It is not that they are looking for help. They will come back and flourish. They pay taxes, PRSI, rates, VAT and all the other taxes and will continue to do so, but they cannot at present. If one has no money coming in, one cannot pay it out. We should get them started. Tús maith leath na hoibre. I worry about the pubs, especially the small pubs and small shops. Will they ever start again? They want to start; it is their owners' life. However, there are the costs involved, including the added costs now. Fáilte Ireland is drawing up a 22 or 23 page document. I do not know why. I support Fáilte Ireland and a céad míle fáilte isteach in Éire an bhliain seo. We have the staycation this year. People cannot dream of attempting to go abroad. People should spend the holiday locally and I ask people in the business to be careful, not to increase prices and to look after people. Ní neart go cur le chéile. We are on our own, but we need supports.

Deputy Verona Murphy spoke about the hauliers. Let us consider the cost of their equipment and the cost of excavators, machines and plant hire. There is a wide spread. That is what Ireland is about, and it has been hammered for the past 20 years with regulation after regulation. We are not anti-regulation, but much of it is unnecessary and over-policed. We must turn these bodies, and the National Employment Rights Authority, NERA, is one of them, into a national support service for the self-employed. We must have self-employed people. We can secure the big conglomerates and foreign direct investment. There are many in my county and I value them. They are welcome and provide wonderful jobs. Merck has been there for almost 50 years. We also have Abbott, Boston Scientific and many others, including my local Clonmel Healthcare. However, we need small businesses, including taxis, especially in rural areas. Even members of the clergy need to be supported. They have been getting nothing during this time. They have had a very lonely time. They had to work and held funerals when families could not be there. They need support. We must allow worshippers back to worship as well.

I worry about this Government with regard to hunting, horse racing and coursing. These are all businesses that belong to people. People put their hands in their pockets for money they have paid tax on to buy their box, pick their stable, have their pony or horse there, buy their tackle, pay the veterinarian and so forth. That is all an industry in rural Ireland. I worry about that. I mean no disrespect to the Tánaiste and the Green Party, but do they understand that this is all part of our culture and heritage? The spirit of the meitheal is also part of it, whereby people start small with a one-man or one-woman business and grow it. However, they are cast away. Let us also consider the tourism industry and the tour coaches. J.J. Kavanagh & Sons in Tipperary and many smaller companies bring the tourists and move them around. The wonderful drivers and wonderful coaches win their respect and then they are well received in the hotels. I was delighted to see that Hotel Minella in Clonmel - the Tánaiste was there previously once or twice - and Cahir House Hotel, along with River House and The Lazy Bean Café in Cahir and other hostelries, have reopened. However, they must be supported. We all want to respect the social distance and to be careful, bí cúramach ar fad. We see what is happening elsewhere, but there must be meaningful and tangible supports.

The banks are not working. They might as well be closed, with a "Closed" sign up. Many people have mortgages and others have business loans, but they have all been pulled. That is the support from the banks. I saw this morning on Facebook that their quarterly charges are growing. During the pandemic they had no customers to deal with and no money to count. It was all done with cards, or 90% of it was. I worry that the banks are not functioning. There is nothing in the programme for Government about community banking, such as there is in Germany and Switzerland. The banks have the Government under the cosh. I do not know why the Government went with them. There is no regulation of them. The receiver and all the murky business is still happening and terrorising business people.

Business people do not have their hands out to beg. If they get back working, they will repay in spades. They will turn over the money, create jobs, pay VAT and taxes, pay the rates, insurance and so forth. Insurance was not touched either by the Government. It is afraid of the big concerns. Big is wonderful for the Government, but it is afraid of it. Being big is everything. The previous Government had no interest in the small people, na daoine beaga. I hope it will change now, but I do not see anything in the programme for Government that indicates it will change. We just need help to get back on our feet, dust ourselves down and to be able to develop, re-employ and re-engage. The costs associated with the Covid are too much, along with over-the-top regulation and paperwork. Mar fhocal scoir, I must mention paperwork and bureaucracy. They have mushroomed. If we could turn paperwork into money, we all would be rich. That is overdone and must be levelled and cleaned out.

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