Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On 24 February, the Russian Federation invaded its neighbour, Ukraine, and unleashed its military forces on it. The first and main victims of the invasion were and are the people of Ukraine. The lives of civilians have been upended, with many fleeing their homes and homeland. Others, who could never have imagined doing so, have joined the military to defend their homeland. A huge number of Ukrainians have fled their homes and many have landed in Ireland in the intervening eight months. I want to put on the record that they are very welcome. Unfortunately, some have tried to pit our people against these refugees and have implied their arrival is impacting on the lives of Irish people who have to compete for services. To be clear, these forces of negativity and division are wrong and they must and will be resisted at every level.

As the illegal invasion of Ukraine has progressed, its impact has permeated across the globe. It has led to a rise in energy and food costs and has exacerbated the cost-of-living crisis in our country.

We rightly call for compassion and assistance for households that have been impacted. While believing that more could have been done for families and workers, it is equally important that SMEs are supported during the most challenging economic climate. SMEs are the bedrock of our economy and must be supported. We are now in the winter months and like households, businesses are worried. Interest rates are rising as are energy and other costs. We all regularly meet SMEs owners with extortionate gas and electricity bills. Having rode out the Covid-19 pandemic we would have hoped that the prospects for SMEs would improve. It was a bitter blow to see the cost of doing business dramatically increase with the onset of the invasion.

SMEs and small mid-cap companies are, as I said, the bedrock of our economy. SMEs account for 99.8% of active enterprises and 68.5% of employment in the State. They are crucial to generating activity in our economy and it is right that they are helped during the challenging economic environment.

While it would have been desirable to have pre-legislative scrutiny on the Bill, I appreciate that given the existing crisis it was necessary to have available supports introduced as promptly as possible. I was glad that committee members agreed with me on that and we waived that. The scheme is for SMEs, primary producers and small mid-cap companies. It allows for an amount of up to €1.2 billion to be made available until 31 December 2024 under the Ukraine guarantee scheme. Coupled with the loan guarantee scheme, this proposal should aid viable but vulnerable businesses during the time of economic difficulty.

The introduction of offering up to €1 million with collateral and up to €250,000 without collateral is welcome in this environment. It is worth noting that the criteria for applying are not excessively complicated so as not to deter eligible businesses. The need to demonstrate a 10% increase in costs versus 2020 figures should be relatively easy for most firms to demonstrate. In the main the premia on these loans are quite low. They are less than 1% in most cases. However, I have a slight concern that a premium of 1.55% for four- to six-year loans for mid-cap businesses may be challenging if the prospects for an individual firm of such a size do not improve.

All of us in this Chamber recognise that gaining energy independence is crucial to the development of our economy. Investment in an abundance of offshore wind energy producers is crucial to our economic growth and stability in the years to come. Last Friday, I attended the launch of the review of the port masterplan vision 2021 in Shannon Foynes. It was an important and timely event. As a State we need to develop Shannon Foynes as a matter of urgency. It has the potential to be the Ardnacrusha of our generation. The days of depending on fossil fuels are over. The ongoing war in Ukraine has demonstrated that such dependence is a risk to our well-being and development. While developing our wind energy is a decade-long project, it is vital that we wean our industries off non-renewable resources. Initiatives to support energy-intensive industry are important. It is important that they demonstrate increased costs on energy.

Part of the proposals I most welcome is the need for firms availing of supports to put forward an energy-efficiency plan. Such a specification is important to ensure that we as a society are committed to moving to a more renewable energy space. My party will support the Bill. It will offer some confidence to our SME base at a time business sentiment among SMEs has fallen from 67.9% to 61.1%. It offers a limited optimism to these businesses when future optimism in business has been recorded as falling.

It is important that the available offerings are open to as many businesses as possible and as such I encourage the Department to engage in a targeted promotional campaign to ensure all eligible businesses are aware of the supports and are assisted in the application process.

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