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

I thank the Deputy very much. I take the opportunity to again acknowledge that the cost of business in Ireland is very high and is rising. That is due to a number of factors, namely, higher labour costs, the energy crisis, the costs of supplies and materials and the withdrawal of temporary Government supports. The latter have to be withdrawn at some point and cannot go on forever. Businesses are closing, but others are also opening. The closure rate, at about 50 per 10,000, is around the long-term average. We have to monitor this very closely, particularly to see whether employment levels may fall in any sector. That would be a very serious alarm bell.

Notwithstanding that, we are going to help. Businesses will receive €250 million in grants between now and the end of March. That will help significantly with cashflow. We are going to make some changes to tax warehousing in order to give businesses more time to pay their taxes, but they do have to pay those taxes. Energy prices are coming down. Hopefully, interest rates will fall throughout the course of the year. "e do need to very closely monitor developments because there are additional costs coming the way of businesses in the context of additional leave, pension contributions and further increases in the minimum wage. We have to do all of that at a pace that is affordable for everyone.

See this speech in context