Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, for his time this evening. We have seen the rapid escalation in the cost of living over the last number of years, much of it driven by inflation and coming off a low-cost basis. We have also had a lot of policy-driven increase of costs. As the Minister of State finalises, with his colleagues, the budgetary measures over the course of the next six days, I appeal to him to maximise the supports to hard-pressed families who have had to sustain huge costs increases in energy, among other costs they have had to sustain over the past year. Last year's supports were very welcome. I very much hope that we could do at least the same this year.

I note that the Low Pay Commission has asked for a 12% increase in the minimum wage, building towards a living wage in 2026 of €14.80. That constitutes a 12% increase on employers. While there is not an employer in the country or a person that would not acknowledge that this is very badly need we must be cognisant of getting the balance right in supports for business. This is a sector predominantly with low margins and highly labour intensive industries who, if they are in food or hospitality or are supermarkets or food manufacturers, are hugely dependent on things like and refrigeration and manufacturing costs with those huge energy increases. The increases in wages over the past years have, of course, put pressure on them but we have also had statutory sick pay, the auto-enrolment for pensions, and the enhanced protective leave entitlements that will come. In certain sectors there were other operational and capital expenditure pressures. In the retail sector now, for example, there is the deposit return scheme. For most businesses this will require a capital of investment between €15,000 and €50,000 and additional staff costs to operate and cater for that. It is a good environmental measure that all industry and all businesses support but we must begin to offset some of these costs against, for example, employment PRSI rates. We must look again to the energy scheme, the temporary credit and business energy support scheme, that we did last year. It came to an end in July and claims will have to be in by the end of September. I would like to see that scheme being extended and the eligibility revised to admit additional people, particularly those in the highly energy-intensive areas, such as retail, hospitality, food manufacturing and so on.

As I say, while seeking maximum supports for families and acknowledging we need to transition towards a national living wage, with increases in January of up to 12% being spoken of, on this occasion and for the next three years, I believe when it comes to the business sector that the Government needs to offset this increase against other measures which businesses can embrace.

The difficulty is we are talking about small independent retailers, restaurants, bars, hospitality generally and manufacturing which employ approximately 1.2 million people, as the Minister of State will be aware, with up to 250 employees per company and some companies employing as few as nine. They employ huge numbers of people in total, contributing to every household in the country. While we want to do all we can to offset the costs of families, we must ensure also that we are protecting employment and the cost of doing business through introducing the appropriate measures for them.

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