Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill and I support it. It is good that we are shining a little light on small and medium sized businesses around the country. When a person decides to start up a small business in which only he or she or three, four or five other people are to be employed that person is taking a risk. Many people put their houses and their families at risk until such time as the business takes off. We hear a great deal about the supports available for small businesses. At the end of the day, most of them have to get their finance from a bank. In that regard, they are required to have a set of books and a business plan but, generally, they will need securities to get the businesses off the ground. They slog hard and for long hours to get a business up and running. It can take up to three years for a business to get a return. Unfortunately, some fail as well.

In terms of the last 18 months that we have been through, I hope I am wrong, but if some of our SMEs stay closed for much longer I fear for next winter. Many SMEs, in particular those in the hospitality sector, are reliant on summer trade for the income they need to enable them to withstand the winter. Often, a business is workable but one particular creditor might move on it. The new system that is being introduced is a good one. It provides an alternative plan. It is another way of doing the business for our small businesses to keep them going, taking into account assets and liabilities, what is owed and the viability of the business going forward. I welcome that.

Like the previous speaker, I note that a judge makes the final decision. I would appreciate clarification on the position in regard to Revenue debt. For example, is it so many cents in the euro? What happens in the line of Revenue? There is another issue that needs to be looked at, that is, the number of small businesses that are going bust. We have seen enough, especially in Dublin, of what can happen to workers. In fairness to Governments, at one time there was a cushion in place to help the workers. I understand that currently where there is an inability to pay - the Minister of State can correct me on this if I am wrong - the Government steps in. The Minister of State might provide clarification in relation to this sector.

It needs to be recognised that in this country a massive amount of our jobs are created by small and medium sized businesspeople. As stated by the previous speaker, they go through so much rigmarole. We need to change our planning system. There is always someone who will object to everything. Even if one wanted to put a flag out, there would be someone to object to it. We have to get that situation sorted. In fairness to many of the councils throughout the country, it was a good idea to incentivise people to set up a new business 5 km or 10 km from an existing business by way of an exemption from rates for a few years. I recall bringing that up in Galway County Council during my time as a councillor there. We need to make sure the rateable system is fair. There are many small businesses in rural areas. In my area, in the 1980s and the 1990s people from a small farming background had two choices, that is, to emigrate to England or move to Dublin for work or to set up a business. Many people opted for the latter, which is great because they contributed to the local communities and the economy and they created employment. Small businesses are ferociously involved in local communities. It is important to mention that it is not the businesses that take out advertisements on RTÉ or TV3, for which they can pay thousands of euro per minute, that sponsor the local football teams or fundraise for the local community centre or a person in the area who is sick - it is the local business. Local businesses keep giving and they need to be appreciated for that.

My concern in regard to businesses small, medium and large is that we will lose competitiveness. The previous speaker spoke about a shortage of labour. It is true that there is a shortage of labour throughout the country. Not alone that, the theory test and driving licence fiasco is impacting on the agriculture sector. Previously, when a youngster passed a theory test he or she obtained a learner permit and could drive a tractor to bring in silage. There are contractors crying out for help. I know that the Minister of State is well tuned in to the rural areas because he comes from Mullingar. Someone needs to make a decision. There was much talk about the number of driving tests per month being increased from 25,000 to 50,000 but something has hauled that back. I know a young lad who wants to work. As someone once said to me, it would be a different thing if young people did not want to work. The young about whom I am speaking want to work. Yesterday, the young lad arrived at the test centre to take his driver theory test and just before going in he received an email about it on his phone. That is one of the most discouraging things we can do to young people. I ask the Minister of State to please sort out the theory and driving licence systems.

On planning, I welcome the judgment today from Mr. Justice Humphreys. We might be lucky and that will go ahead, but it is important to remember that businesses do not wait. We need to monitor that situation. In many instances, where people are blocked or stopped from creating jobs, they move on. I have previously raised on the record of the Dáil my concern in regard to the price we are paying for electricity. I heard yesterday evening on the news that all of the providers are to increase the price of electricity again. We have had a few amber warnings. I heard today that legislation is to come before the House next week or the following week to provide for a spend of €200 million and to bypass planning to put in place additional generators in Dublin to make sure the lights do not go out for the winter. The Minister of State has a great understanding of the lot of the rural areas. Is it not rather unusual that we are able to bring forth legislation quickly to bypass all planning to enable the installation of these generators so that the lights will not go out in Dublin next winter but we were not able to bring forth emergency legislation to sort out the Bord na Móna problem? The will to do that was not there because the Minister, Deputy Ryan, was not intent on doing it. He was clapping his hands when the jobs in Bord na Móna were being done away with. It is sad that I have to say that, but it is the reality. We have major problems because some plans are being drawn up.

We hear all of this talk about data centres. I went through it yesterday and we had as high a peak in 2010 as we have at the moment but the power was there. We had more than enough power at the time. However, we have since chopped the likes of Shannonbridge, Lanesboro and Moneypoint. It is like putting the cart before the horse. We are ticking the box and telling everyone that we are mighty and that, Jesus, we are the cleanest in the world in what we are doing but, in actual fact, we are costing people their jobs. I talk to people in industry and I can tell the Minister of State that there is great fear among some of the big employers and, indeed, the medium-sized employers in this country about whether we will have power and where we are going as a country. If there is any doubt about that, they will move their jobs to other places. We can tick the box and say we have achieved 80% of this climate target but, in actual fact, a heap of people are unemployed and we have to start paying out social welfare. That is no good. All of this must be balanced. It must be done constructively. Businesses cannot be penalised. The electricity tariff businesses have to pay is ferociously wrong. We need to encourage them and to help them.

The other side to it is that we need to put jobs in sectors such as construction - and I have talked about this before - on a pedestal in a way we never have before. The old technical schools were great at one time. Unfortunately, many of them are now gone. There was a snobby attitude around the country that pipelayers, digger drivers or whatever never bothered their arse going to school. That is not correct. There are people who are gifted with their hands. Others are gifted at computers or nursing. There are people who are gifted at pipelaying, carpentry, blocklaying and stonemasonry. These are arts and skills which we should appreciate. Unfortunately, because of the boom-bang cycle we have had down through the years, people were like swallows. They headed off to wherever the work was. If the work was in Dublin, that was where they went. The next thing was that the work was in England, possibly London. What happened during this last lockdown - and I saw it because I know a lot of people in the sector - is that England kept going and a lot of the machine drivers headed there. This has a knock-on effect and, unfortunately, if one cannot get people to do the work, the work slows down. We can blame governments, builders or anyone else in the world in this big debate on housing but, at the end of the day, if we do not have enough people with the right skill set, we can throw all the money we want at a project but it will not get done. We need to watch these things.

I ask the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to work with businesses. There are a lot of areas in which we could have apprenticeships. In Germany, there are 320 types of apprenticeship. Norway has 480 different types of apprenticeships. These mean that people do not have to go to college for three or four years, having a good old bit of craic. We need to look at courses to see how we can adapt them towards people working with a business for a while before going back to college for a while and striking a fine balance between the two. Employers taking on people are also genuinely worried that, having put resources into someone, that person can then leave. If an employer puts resources into somebody, there should be a year or two or three of payback. There should be some sort of a system so that it is not somebody else who gets the great benefit out of the money the employer has invested in somebody. I ask the Minister of State to consider that.

The electricity issue needs to be addressed in a big way. I will not harp on all evening. I know the Ceann Comhairle wants to head for the hills. In fairness, I welcome the Bill in general and I will support it. That is all I have to say.

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