Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Government claims to be pro-business. It rushed through and guillotined the finance Bill last night. Many measures, the Government said, are pro-business. I have an ESB bill here from a family business in Tipperary. It is a respected and well-run business, a public house. The bill is for €3,208 for the period from the middle of August to the end of September, when the weather was not too bad or cold. The charges are coming out. The bill includes a new charge of €451 for an I-SEM trading charge. It totals €451. That is almost 17% of the bill. How can businesses sustain this? It was unexpected and no one knows where it came from. Businesses already face the increase in the minimum wage. They have extra holiday pay and insurance costs to cover. There are more bank holiday and sick pay days. Small businesses are taking hit after hit. They cannot sustain this. The charge came totally out of the blue. What is this charge? Who decided on it? How can companies just decide to add this to a bill? There is 17% extra on this man's bill for a period of six weeks.

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