Pádraig O'Sullivan (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I know the Minister understands the importance of SMEs to the Irish economy. As he rightly outlined in his response, more than 99% of all business in the State, and almost 70% of all employment in the business economy, is provided by SMEs. The SME credit survey is a crucial component in ascertaining how business is performing, how investment is being undertaken and how accessible credit is to ensure that jobs and the economy continued to grow.

The Minister recently welcomed the survey, as he has outlined. I would like to hear the Minister's thoughts on several specific points that have been raised. A total of 16% of SMEs reported investing in climate-related activities during 2023, with the highest in energy efficiency followed by less polluting technologies. What are the Minister's thoughts on this? How will we try to increase this trend and increase the number of people investing in business and in upgrading energy efficiency? The report stated that 53% of SMEs reported increasing their prices during 2023. What steps is the Minister taking to address the trend of rising costs and prices?

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