Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to be given the opportunity to say a few words here this afternoon and to point out some of the excellent work that has been done by a slew of Ministers and officials across a number of Departments, led by the Minister, Deputy Burke, and following on, despite some revisionism, which we are used to, from certain parties across the Chamber, from a package announced a couple months ago announced by the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and following on from one of the most expansive pro-enterprise budgets in the history of the State in October. What we have here is an opportunity to discuss where there is clear need and where the impact can be felt by businesses of all sizes but particularly small- and medium-sized businesses throughout the country and which are the lifeblood of every town and village and indeed the capital city, which I am proud to call my home.

Within the 15-point plan of action, I would like to go straight to welcoming the extension for another couple of weeks of the application deadline of the increased cost of business grant, but also the secondary payment, especially to those businesses in the retail and hospitality sectors that have been struggling. As of the last count, 2,680 businesses in my own area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, nearly 8,500 businesses in Dublin city and just over 3,500 businesses in South Dublin County Council, home of the Minister for State, Emer Higgins, have applied for this grant and are receiving these payments into their accounts this very week. Despite some of the rhetoric we have heard, I was contacted by businesses in Dublin city, in Rathfarnham in south Dublin and indeed in my own area that have received the money in recent days. However, I do agree with Opposition Members when I say that this is too slow. I make the call quite clearly to city council and county council leadership around the country of the importance, for their own sakes as well as for the economy and the country, of getting these payments made to businesses as soon as possible. It is a real test of confidence in our local government system to make sure we can implement this.

Key to delivering on this is the role of the local enterprise offices. I was very proud in the ministerial brief I held until recently, which work is now being wonderfully carried out by the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, to have visited pretty much every single local enterprise office in the country. I had a wonderful visit to the Ceann Comhairle's own county local enterprise office and the excellent hub they have there with great work being done by Jackie and the entire team in the county of Kildare. We know these local enterprise offices are supporting 370,000 businesses in the country. Of those businesses, more than 6,600 jobs were created by clients of local enterprise offices throughout the country. Every single local enterprise office from Louth to north Kildare to Longford to Westmeath created jobs in a range of sectors last year. We can see that, through this package, those businesses will be further supported with the doubling of the energy efficiency grants, something that is so important when we are not just trying to support businesses but also trying to help them on their decarbonisation journey. We want to make sure that the savings are not just one off or tokenistic. These are actually the long-term measures we talk about so many times, not only in terms of tackling climate but supporting businesses as well. I am particularly pleased to see the expansion of the trading online voucher to all businesses of up to 50 employees. This will give so many businesses the opportunity to maximise their work online and make sure these businesses are supported going forward.

One area that came up a lot in my previous role and comes up in my present role is access to finance. The decision that was made to double the funds available for Microfinance Ireland can loan to those businesses that struggle to engage with many other financial institutions is really welcome. It will give many so many businesses the opportunity to provide that investment to future-proof and to ensure they protect and save jobs and protect those workers we all talk about.

It would be remiss of me in my current role not to refer to the really important work being carried out by credit unions in the sector and the potential for them to do even more. Last year, business loans from credit unions increased by 11%. This is real money going into businesses that are truly at the heart of our local communities. These are businesses that choose to do their financial business with their credit unions. We all know the structures of credit unions. I would argue that the vast majority of us are members of credit unions or at least are familiar with them. Plenty of us have been involved in clubs, sporting groups and associations that are reliant on credit unions, not only for their financial business but also for the sponsorship and support they give. This is an area that can be increased to give those businesses the opportunity to get the finance so they can expand, save jobs and meet those difficult bills that need to be paid.

An issue that has come up consistently in this Chamber and on which Deputy Ó Murchú and I had a spirited debate late last Tuesday is the cost of insurance for businesses and the concern so many businesses face when totting up their bills about the rising costs of insurance for certain sectors. However, with 95% of the Government's action plan on insurance reform having been completed, many are increasingly seeing the opportunities for a pathway, not only first and foremost for those businesses that are struggling to get access to multiple offers of insurance, but also towards making sure claims are going down. In due course, we hope and expect to see premiums go down also.

In the time remaining to me I want to take up a few comments made by the Opposition speakers so far. I know there will be more comments made and lots of dramatic language, but we are here talking about backing businesses. We all have to accept that if we do not have a functioning economy and businesses that are able to be successful, generate a profit and expand, every time we talk about workers' rights and societal improvement, it is for naught. Someone has to pay for it. Many people are more than happy to tell us how we can spend the money, but they have absolutely no interest in how we are actually going to generate those funds bar saying it is all relevant to some other big bad beast.

We talk about the increased cost of business grant scheme. Deputy O'Reilly, with whom I spent 14 lovely months engaging across the Chamber in genuine progress on workers' rights and the recognition of the trade union movement, of which she and I are both proud members, as is Deputy Nash, and we have also had those conversations, spoke about the increased cost of business scheme and cited the fact the Government is not listening to Sinn Féin. The increased cost of business scheme was budgeted for €257 million. That is a colossal amount of money for one scheme. The Deputy said there is a failing and it is not paying out. Let us look at the Sinn Féin alternative budget. It is back on the party's website.

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