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

Redundancies in the tech sector have been receiving much of the media and political attention in recent days. It is a serious situation for the people involved and, indeed, the wider economy. At the same time, I am concerned that we are facing a crisis in small businesses operating in local economies. Towns and villages in my county of Mayo and elsewhere in the State are in danger of seeing a wave of business closures. Businesses are hibernating for the winter with the intention of reopening in March or April because they just cannot sustain the high costs, particularly the high cost of energy. They know that they will not generate enough revenue through the winter months to meet those costs and that if they remain open, they will face into spring of next year with an accumulation of unsustainable debt. The impact on unemployment and underemployment in these areas is concerning. Other businesses are making the decision to close permanently. That is mostly down to the sky-rocketing energy costs, but also the other input costs of insurance and commercial rents. As most businesses in small towns are interconnected, this is having a disturbing impact on local economies. People who go into their local town for to visit some shops then go on to cafes and spend the limited amount they have.

As my colleague, Deputy O'Reilly, and others have stated, Sinn Féin will support the Ukraine credit guarantee scheme. The legislation will mean the State will be guaranteeing loans with public funding of up to €1.2 billion, with the State fully liable for €960 million of that. That is the State guaranteeing 80% of the value of the loans. The significant reduction in risk for the lending banks needs to be reflected in the interest rates the banks charge and in how they treat their customers. However, many businesses have taken on debt, either during Covid or in the past year, given the unsustainably high energy bills. They also have Revenue debt from tax warehousing. Many people are afraid to take on debt as they have seen bills increasing every couple of months for almost a year and businesses are being hit from all sides. Their costs are going up and they see a reduction in the customer spend. When workers and families are hard pressed, local businesses struggle too. To use the language of economists, demand is being destroyed, and that is spreading through local economies.

For more than a year, I have been calling on the Government to take action to address the artificially high electricity prices that have been crippling households and premises. I cannot understand its inaction in that regard. Yes, Putin has been strategically reducing gas supplies in Europe for more than a year, but why does that mean that gas from the Corrib field off the coast of Mayo has to cost eight times as much as it did two years ago? Indeed, that organisation enjoyed a profit of €560 million for the first half of 2022 alone. Why does gas continue to set the price for all electricity, including that generated from wind energy? The cost of energy is destroying small businesses and will do untold damage. I am genuinely fearful for villages and towns throughout the country as a result of what has been allowed to happen.

Is a sunset clause built into the Bill in terms of how the evaluation is going to be done so that the spread of the fund across businesses can be measured to ensure it is getting to the businesses that need it, rather than just the ones that have more resources and are able to access it?

We need to keep that monitored because this fund needs to get into the heart of the smaller businesses and communities that desperately need it as a lifeline. I welcome it but I want an even spread and equity in respect of it. Have evaluations been done of the other business support scheme to see what the spread of it has been and to identify any blocks that might be there as regards access for all businesses that desperately need it?

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