Dáil debates

Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Estimates for Public Services 2020 - Vote 32 - Business, Enterprise and Innovation (Revised)

 

12:45 pm

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is quite hard to make sure we are seen when we are so far away from one another.

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. We are supporting the increase in the Estimates. Clearly, SMEs have suffered greatly in the last number of months. Our SME sector is the backbone of this economy. It is a sector which employs in the region of 1 million people. The forced closure of the economy and our SMEs for the sake of public health has left them in a precarious situation. It is so important that the July stimulus gets the support measures correct because if we do not do that, we run the risk of viable businesses going out of business. If that happens, we will see job losses throughout the length and breadth of this country. That is something we have to prevent. That is why it is welcome to have an opportunity to contribute to this debate and to highlight some of the issues I feel need to be addressed in the July stimulus. I acknowledge that many proposals in the programme for Government will help to address that, if and when they are enacted.

Previous speakers have alluded to the temporary wage subsidy scheme. It has been a lifeline to so many businesses. As previous speakers have said, it is important that certainty is given to businesses that this will continue for a number of months and will be tapered off as their turnover improves. We need to look at extending it beyond the number of people who are currently accessing it. Many people, particularly in the hospitality sector, take on seasonal workers and those workers cannot avail of the temporary wage subsidy. We need to look at extending it to seasonal workers.

I wish the Tánaiste luck in his new role. I was interested to listen to him speaking about how much of the restart grant fund has been drawn down so far. As I mentioned to his predecessor, I think the restart grant is too restrictive because it is solely based on businesses' rates in 2019 and takes no account of the costs associated with reopening a business, such as providing PPE gear and screens and doing whatever work needs to be done. In Westmeath, the median rates of our businesses in 2019 was €1,800. That means 50% of the businesses in Westmeath were paying €1,800. At best, they will now get €2,000. It is not a lot of money for businesses that have been closed for 14 weeks and have large expenses in reopening.

I brought it to the previous Minister's attention that I have been contacted by a number of viable businesses that have gone through the SBCI and received approval but, having received such approval, have gone back to their pillar banks to be told they will not lend. What will be done for businesses that cannot access liquidity? That is why it is so important that, as a priority in the coming weeks, the credit guarantee scheme is enacted with favourable rates and with very little bureaucracy in terms of how businesses can avail of it. We should not have a situation where we charge businesses who have been through so much 4% or 4.5% interest rates at a time when the State is borrowing at less than 0.25%. We need to ensure viable businesses can access liquidity at favourable interest rates, just like the rest of our EU counterparts are doing for their businesses.

I have engaged with many of our representative bodies regarding commercial leases. Commercial landlords are dealing with their tenants on a case-by-case basis. In some instances, it must be acknowledged, they are dealing with them favourably; in other instances, they are not dealing with them favourably at all.

We need to ensure a code of conduct is put in place so that people know exactly what is expected of them in dealing with their commercial leases.

Regarding the restart grants, I was interested that the Tánaiste said there is a payment of €1,000 available for people who do not pay commercial rates. For somebody who has been out of business for 14 or 16 weeks, €1,000 is not adequate. There is a golf club in Mullingar whose owner pays commercial rates every year but has been told that the club does not qualify for sports capital funding because it is a business. We should extend the restart grant to businesses such as that.

Finally, as alluded to earlier, we must ensure that the new Government makes insurance reform a top priority. The manner in which insurance companies have been dealing with their customers is simply appalling. We have a situation where businesses in the hospitality sector are having to go to the High Court to get what they are entitled to. FBD Insurance, for example, had previously written to business customers telling them they were covered for business interruption, but the company is now resisting all attempts to pay out on those policies. It is not good enough. If we look across the water, the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK has instigated a test case on behalf of customers. It is representing 17 or 18 customers and bringing their cases to court. Where is the Central Bank in all of this? It has issued letters and said what it would like to be done but where is it in terms of enforcement? It is not good enough that people who have paid excess premiums to have a policy in place are being forced into the courts system to get what they deserve. I hope and believe, based on the commitments in the programme for Government, that the insurance reform that has been promised for so many years will be delivered very early in the lifetime of the new Government.

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