Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

I dtosach báire, aontaím go huile is go hiomlán leis an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta Ó Cuív. Ceapann sé go bhfuil sé ina mhionlach anseo ach b'fhéidir go bhfuil níos mó daoine ann sa Dáil seo atá den tuairim chéanna.

Aontú opposes Brexit. We believe it will do enormous damage to Ireland. I am amazed that at this far remove from the British referendum there has been precious little introspection or self-examination from a European Union perspective. Much of the reason people across Europe are anti-EU is that many of them, me included, believe there is a democratic deficit within the EU. The structures and functions of the EU are not transparently democratic. The power resides in one or two countries and they dictate the direction of travel. This was very obvious during the crash in this State ten years ago when Germany and one or two other countries decided they would embark on a policy of hardcore economic damage on Ireland as a result of what happened. It is amazing that these countries can flip a switch and have a far different monetary policy in this particular crisis from the one they had ten years ago.

I agree with Teachta Ó Cuív that it is a weakness in our approach that there is not an Irish team at the negotiation table. Ireland comprises 1.6% of the population of the EU and it exerts precious little influence over the objectives on the EU negotiators' priority list. If we think that we are at the top table with regard to priorities for that negotiation, we are fooling ourselves. There is within the Irish psyche a tendency to defer to our betters at times, which is wrong. There needs to be some level of self-examination in the EU in regard to the reason so many people across the European Union feel the Union itself the biggest threat to the EU at the moment.

A couple of days ago, I received from the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment a reply to a parliamentary question which indicated that by August, 3,236 businesses in this State had gone bust this year, largely due to Covid-19, although I imagine some of the Brexit changes are probably having an affect on those businesses. It is an extremely difficult time to exist as a small to medium-sized enterprise in this State. The figure of 3,236 is, as I said, the figure up to August this year. It is bound to be underestimated because most businesses that go bust this year will not be known about until the end of the tax year next year. The real figure will be far higher.

I also tabled a parliamentary question to the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment on the state of play with the financial supports that were being given to small businesses in this State. The information I got back is incredible. While the financial supports are available on paper to SMEs - I will grant the Government that some financial supports are going to SMEs - many of the financial supports that have been created because of Covid and Brexit are not being delivered to SMEs at the moment. In regard to the working capital scheme, only 915 of 3,935 applications have been approved and only 27% funding has been given out under this particular scheme. Under the Covid-19 loan scheme, €3.1 million of a pot of €15 million has been allocated. A mere 279 of 1,205 applications or 13.2% of that funding has been given out. Under the online retail scheme, the purpose of which is to get businesses ready for Brexit and to deal with Covid, less than 50% of allocations have been made. That pot was only €2 million. We are hearing that currently 51% of retail is online, which is the highest ever figure in that regard. The vast majority of that online retail is going abroad, which means it is lost to Ireland. At the same time, small businesses are being wiped out. Under the sustaining enterprise fund of €180 million, only 108 of 639 applications were approved and approximately 25% of the available funding has been paid out to date. The list goes on. We have a radical problem with regard to the allocation of the funds necessary for small and medium sized business to be able to function through the double whammy of Covid-19 and Brexit. There is so much of Brexit that is out of our hands at the moment but supporting those small businesses is in our hands. More needs to be done to make sure that happens.

I agree with Teachta Berry's remarks regarding the Brexit negotiations going to the wire. There is no doubt in my mind that the British are trying to run down the clock in a strategic effort to crowbar their objectives into the final deal. There is no doubt that we need to make sure we have a transition space. At this stage, it must be recognised that it is practically impossible for all of the democratic objectives that need to be met after any negotiation is complete to be fulfilled by the end of the year. Even if we do fulfil all of those democratic objectives - in other words, we get them through all of the committees in the European Parliament - it will still be physically impossible to give practical effect to the elements of the deal to enable businesses to function freely come the start of next year. I concur that there needs to be an extension of the transition period by at least six months to allow that to happen. Any less than that will not be feasible for Irish businesses. I note the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, is shaking his head.

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