Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Why is the Government so slow to respond to the European laws that are made to help the SMEs and people of Ireland? I refer to the toolbox we were given. I will give just one example. When the fuel crisis came, we asked the Government to help the SMEs, road hauliers and others involved in transport around the country. It introduced a fund that would only benefit those with a road haulage licence, which took out 65% of the trucks and vans in this country. The Government only supplemented one side of the equation. It did not provide a supplement for everybody.

Prior to the energy crisis in this country, Newcastlewest had four butchers and now it has only one because of the costs. I go from town to town and village to village where we have SMEs that are relying on energy and the Government has not reacted because it does not seem to understand the consequences of all these small businesses closing down.

We can see from our electricity bills that 64% of electricity comes from renewables and that we are being charged a high rate for gas. Why can the Government not react fast enough? It brought the VAT down to 9%. It gave people €600, inclusive of VAT, which brings it down to €550. The taxation system in this country is killing the SMEs because of the energy cost. I want to save lives, families, businesses, and communities. Why is the Government so slow to react and help people even when Council Regulation (EU) 2022/1854 was introduced on 8 October? There will no businesses left in rural areas. It will only be the multinationals that can sustain the cost that will be able to stay open and the SMEs will close.

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