Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. On behalf of my colleagues in the Rural Independent Group, and Deputy O'Donoghue raised it already, we badly need a debate on the situation facing small businesses, especially food outlets. We had two restaurants on Main Street in Tipperary town, Prime 74 and Flanagan's Lane Restaurant, close in the past week. These were two excellent premises with excellent staff and excellent management. They were excellent family businesses. This is replicated up and down the county and all over the country. The Government might have a minimum wage and excellent bank holidays and this fanfare for extra sick pay, extra pensions and you name it, but the Small Firms Association, IBEC and everybody else is telling it that it is just not viable to stay in business. There is carbon tax, the cost of electricity and everything else. The Government is giving support, but this is a crisis. First of all, we need the VAT dealt with immediately. It must be reduced back to 9%. We need to look seriously at how difficult it is for a small business to operate and the onerous job it is for employers to fill out all this paperwork. All the schemes the Government has brought in are lovely, but they are not practical and they are killing initiative and small business.

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