Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The cost of doing business in Ireland is very high and it is rising. We acknowledge that. Some of that is down to increased labour costs, increased energy costs, the increased cost of supplies and also the withdrawal of some temporary supports for businesses that simply cannot go on forever.

There are things the Government can do to help. We will inject over €250 million in the form of grants into small businesses between now and 31 March to help them with cashflow. We are also looking at what we can do around tax warehousing to give businesses a little more time to pay their taxes. They do have to pay their taxes, but this is to give them a little more time to do so. The Deputy makes a very valid point. Where a business may be the only café in a town or small village, is more than just a business competing with other businesses and has a particular social value, we need to look at our social enterprise model there in order to make sure we can help those businesses in a different way. It is a different story if it is three or four pubs competing in a town and one closes. When there an enterprise is the only enterprise in the town and is a gathering point and a community hub, that is quite different.

See this speech in context