Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Regional Group for this motion. It is putting the spotlight on something extremely important. It is a practical motion. It asks for a task force and an interim measure. It recognises the absence of access to affordable housing and housing in general. The only little problem I have is with the language to abolish the welfare trap. It is put in a very negative way. What the Regional Group is really asking is that the benefits the person gets from social welfare would continue, which assists the business. I would have phrased that differently. I totally agree with the Regional Group about procurement and the importance of changing that. I know the Minister knows this himself. I know that what I still call the VEC in Galway has repeatedly brought to our attention that it is absolutely limited in what it can do, with local businesses losing out completely. All of the figures have been stated so far. What can we say? There are almost 1.2 million people, as Deputies have repeatedly and rightly said, because it is a staggering figure. These small to medium enterprises accounted for 99.8% of all enterprises. The figures are staggering.

I have any amount of correspondence from businesses in Galway. If I have time to talk about one, i gcroílár na Gaeltachta, it will really capture how important a small business or restaurant is to the whole of County Galway. If I do not, I will send it to the Minister of State. I welcome all of the supports that have been given by Government. My difficulty is that they have been once-off supports, without a sustainable plan. This motion is asking for a sustainable plan. Transformative action is needed on this. That is not happening. Why do I say that? We have been told in two different reports, once when Brexit came and another when the Gaeltacht did a review, that small enterprises in Gaeltacht areas were particularly vulnerable. There was an ESRI working document too that said we were particularly vulnerable.

I have a letter from somewhere right beside TG4 that was set up during the middle of Covid. One paragraph captures what that small restaurant does for the area, from the middle of Connemara to Moycullen, Oughterard, Ballinasloe and up to Mayo, with regard to accessing local products, including organic vegetables, organic eggs, meat from Oughterard, sausages, and a whole list of things. I cannot believe what it is doing. It has captured it in one paragraph. If the Government was to produce a plan that would reward local businesses for sustainability and transformative action, I would be totally behind it. I think it is the way of the future.

See this speech in context