Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The pandemic has delivered the sharpest, deepest and most dramatic shock to our economy and, indeed, society. We thought that Brexit, and everything we had to deal with there, and still have to deal with there, was a shock.

We have now had six months to protect businesses and jobs. At an early stage, it was agreed on a global basis that austerity would not work, it was not the answer and we needed a Keynesian approach. My concern is that we are attempting to do that but we are not doing it nearly enough. We are not doing it in the same way that other countries are doing it and we will not get the results that we want to achieve from it.

The July stimulus package offered some measures, but not nearly enough and not in the form that it was asked for. It is not me saying that. It says something when the Government's own Deputies, whom I have been listening to here, are telling the Minister of State, Deputy English, to stand up for rural Ireland and that rural Ireland and different business have been forgotten.

Loans with uncompetitive interest rates and limited grants with unrealistic timelines were the feature of the July stimulus package.

Banks still charge businesses rates of 6.5%. Credit unions would offer better loan rates than that.

There is an issue in Britain where companies were being set up to draw down some of the guaranteed funding from the state. What measures have been taken to prevent false companies being set up to draw down money the State will be obliged to pay back?

Businesses here were only recovering after years of austerity. They do not have the capacity or appetite to carry any more debt. The Government is falling very short in protecting jobs and supporting businesses during the pandemic. I will give an example. Last week I spoke to the owner of a hospitality business who employs just fewer than 50 people, a significant number, in a rural town. On Tuesday, he was really pleased to get a restart grant of €15,000. He was busy in July and August with people holidaying in Ireland and had just about managed to pay the bills he would normally pay in March and April. He caught up and was ready to batten down the hatches for winter until some sort of normality might return to the sector. He worked out that his insurance bill would be somewhat similar to the previous year, which was in the region of €27,000, a huge amount by any standards. However, his renewal notice arrived two days later and his insurance premium had increased to €120,000. Eventually, after a week of sleepless nights, the cheapest premium he could get was €72,000. His €15,000 grant goes straight to the insurance company along with four times that figure again. Add a huge rates bill and the high interest rates sought by the banks, which are looking for mortgage repayments from October, and one can see why many businesses will close down. The insurance companies are still running riot.

I commend the work undertaken by my colleague, Deputy Doherty, and the Joint Committee on Finance collectively regarding insurance companies, but it is not nearly enough. Businesses such as the one to which I refer are tired of the false promises, reports and a legal system that settles unfounded claims. These businesses and the jobs they provide are hanging on a knife edge. They are worth €7.6 billion to the economy and employ 180,000 people. We received the autumn legislation programme from the Government earlier today but ,unless I missed it, there is no sign of any legislation that will bring about the necessary change to the insurance industry. In recent months, insurance companies have demonstrated their complete disregard for people and businesses. They have refused to pay out on claims from struggling businesses during the pandemic. The sector's income has boomed in recent years but, despite an annual revenue of over €15 billion, pubs, restaurants and hotels have been forced into court to get their coverage. I have carefully monitored the position in Britain. We need to take immediate note of what is happening there.

We must also take note of what the authorities in Britain have done in respect of audit companies. I have much more to say on business but I do not have time. We are far behind the curve in dealing with the big four audit companies, the insurance companies and the banks. We need to take this matter seriously.

See this speech in context