Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Collins for raising the important matter of small businesses and especially mentioning a number of them in what we call the hospitality sector, cafés, restaurants, pubs and others. I fully accept they have been struggling to absorb significant costs and have been operating in an environment of high inflation, rising costs and a number of charges that have come at them all at once. When I talk to many of them, it is not that they believe any of the initiatives are bad. They want to do well by their employees as it helps them to retain staff. The key to a good business is to look after the workforce. However, at the same time they are trying to make ends meet. I acknowledge that and I want to work with them and like-minded Deputies in this House to see how we can do that.

Our newly appointed Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Peter Burke, is looking at a range of ways in which we can try to support businesses, small businesses in particular, and, most importantly, how we can provide them with certainty about what the next few years look like. I certainly heard clearly, as have my colleagues, that they want to know whether they will have to pay even more costs, so it is quite important to try to provide them with certainty about what the next few years will look like.

We already have a scheme in place worth €250 million. Deputy Collins will be aware of this increased cost of business scheme and the €250 million currently being given out. Today, 34,000 businesses will have applied, but there are a few more than 140,000 businesses that could benefit from it. I encourage every Member of the House to please get the message out in their constituencies to all businesses that they can apply for this grant. It is easy to apply for, low on bureaucracy. Very little paperwork is involved. Let us get money immediately into the bank accounts of small businesses.

We have also kept in place the VAT cuts for gas and electricity and increased the VAT threshold level, which has helped many small businesses. The Minister, Deputy Peter Burke, is also working on an energy efficiency grant that will significantly help businesses with the cost of energy.

Deputy Collins specifically raised the issue of the VAT rate. It truthful of me to say, it is a factual position, that issues around VAT and tax rates in general are matters that are considered in the budget. They remain issues we will continue to consider and the Government will make decisions on all tax and spending matters in the budget, but we will not wait until the budget to act to help small businesses. To anyone watching these proceedings, especially small business owners, there are more than 100,000 businesses eligible for financial support from the Government. I ask them to please apply and let us get that money into their bank accounts and to know that in the next few weeks we will be working to put more measures in place. Crucially, we will also be working-----

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