Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

I just want to emphasise again that some of these businesses are literally weeks away from closing their doors without significant intervention from the Minister. Potentially thousands of people could end up on social welfare for the winter, not to mention the closure of businesses and confidence in our towns and villages. Even a temporary closure means less foot traffic, fewer people visiting the area and it has severe knock-on effects. The Minister knows one closed business in a small town or village has a really profound impact on the whole area. We need ambitious preventative measures now. I would be grateful if the Minister could explain in his answer how energy companies can be allowed to have record profits at this time. How is that permitted? Should they not be absorbing costs as small businesses seem to have to? We need an effective windfall tax that we can use to support SMEs.

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