Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an nGrúpa Réigiúnach agus leis an Teachta Matt Shanahan ach go háirithe as an obair atá déanta aige ar an mBille seo, agus le Cáit Nic Amlaoibh freisin a thug tacaíocht a thabhairt don ghrúpa chun an Bille seo a chur chun cinn.

The Government presides over a two-tiered economy, in that it has rolled out the red carpet for the FDI sector but has left the indigenous enterprise sector as the poor relation. FDI is good and we need a healthy, functioning FDI sector, but indigenous enterprise is actually far more important because it employs many more people. It is also stickier, which means it is less mobile and more likely to remain in this country and is more embedded in the supply chain of products it gets from the country.

That indigenous business is far better spatially delivered across the country too. It is not just located in the big urban centres; it is in the smaller towns and provincial villages across the country as well.

The problem is that this Government has treated the indigenous enterprise sector very badly in the last number of years. These enterprises have suffered significantly. Most especially, the hospitality sector has suffered. In many ways this sector is like the canary in the coalmine. It suffers from reduced spending far earlier than most other business sectors and therefore is more prone to shocks within the economy as well. The hospitality sector suffered significantly under the Covid restrictions the Government delivered and it now owes an incredible €1.8 billion in Covid taxes. Rip-off Ireland, which is hammering so many people, is especially difficult for small businesses. Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in the world. Switzerland is probably the only country in Europe where a whole basket of products is more expensive. The costs of goods and services are 46% higher here than they are elsewhere in the EU. That is really hurting small businesses as they are consuming many of these things, such as energy, electricity and so on.

The worst thing is that the Government is a driver of these costs. The Government received more in VAT, excise and carbon taxes last year than ever before. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, the Government is quids in while small businesses are suffering. Products such as tobacco and alcohol in particular are extremely highly taxed here and of course that affects the hospitality business in a significant fashion. On top of this, the Government has heaped a number of other costs on small businesses, for example, increases in sick pay and the minimum wage and, soon, auto-enrolment. While many of these increases are good for society in many ways, unfortunately the cost has been put on the shoulders of small businesses, without the necessary help from the Government. That is incredible. We have seen the number of insolvencies increase significantly over the last while. PwC has stated the rate of insolvency is two and a half times higher in the hospitality sector than it is throughout the rest of enterprise.

Another pressure the Government heaped on small businesses was the increase in the VAT rate in hospitality. This is a major mistake. The biggest mistake is that the Government is treating all of hospitality as one homogeneous sector. It is not a homogeneous sector. There is a massive difference between big hotel companies and small businesses such as restaurants, bars and cafés. They have completely different business models, completely different experiences and they are being hit in a completely different fashion. The Government should differentiate those sectors within hospitality and reduce the VAT rate for restaurants, cafés and pubs to 9%. That would make an enormous difference to the viability of these businesses. It would mean that some of them could function into the future.

This is a Government whose members have never been self-employed or had their own businesses. They have no real experiences of the blood, sweat and tears it takes to keep a business going. The Government is oblivious to the needs of these businesses. There is a disconnect between its understanding of the economy and the day-to-day experience of small businesses. I ask the Government to start talking to those businesses now.

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