Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and I interacted in this Chamber some weeks ago. Will he confirm, further to that discussion, that the tax breaks he might give to the private rented sector in the budget will be backdated to January of this year, as was requested among measures from the Regional Group?

Access to finance is a huge problem currently in the SME and micro-business space. It is very hard to get money out of the commercial pillar banks. SMEs are paying more than 8% APR. If they are going into linked finance they can be paying up to 14% APR, which is not very sustainable for a lot of businesses. Are there any plans to look at reintroducing a Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland backup scheme, as was done during Covid?

I am aware that insurance is not quite the Minister's bag, but commercial insurance is a huge problem now. We have not reformed the duty of care legislation yet and the number of claims circumventing the Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, is rising all the while. I am aware of two companies, one of whom is an indigenous baker, whose insurance premium has gone from €10,000 to €30,000, with a €10,000 excess. The other company is a leisure business whose premium has gone from €50,000 to €250,000 annually for the next five years. These are the problems afflicting the SME sector presently.

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