Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak. Unfortunately, we did not receive copies of the Minister's speech. He referred to small businesses being the backbone of society, something that has also been said in press releases. This is repeatedly said, and I fully agree with it. I also agree that small and medium businesses are the lifeblood of towns and villages the length and breadth of the country. However, we do not take action in accordance with that recognition and we are constantly reacting. I welcome all of that the Government has done to support businesses. There is a list of actions which I fully welcome, in particular the increased cost of business scheme which is open for another 14 days. I will come back to the take-up of the scheme. The time to register has been extended which I welcome, along with doubling of the innovation grant to €10,000.

I have serious questions about research being carried out. I always welcome research from the ERSI, but it is done following a decision to introduce and increase statutory sick pay leave. Why was that analysis not done before now? As has been said, it pits employers against employees, which I do not welcome.

I believe in small businesses. They are the backbone of our society. We need to support them in every way possible. I have referred on previous occasions to a small business in the Gaeltacht and the number of smaller businesses it supports, everything from organic eggs to cheeses and fresh vegetables from the area. That is the ecology of one tiny business that we need to support.

There is a massive difference between what is on offer and the level of take-up. It was mentioned that 74,000 out of 140,000 eligible businesses registered for the increased cost of business scheme. For Galway City Council, there were 532 approvals out of 2,062 registered businesses. I do not know whether that is good or bad, but what analysis has been done on the uptake? Galway County Council had 579 approvals out of 2,085 registered businesses. There is a gap between registrations, approvals and take up. It would be helpful to know what analysis has been done on that.

We have been told repeatedly that the VAT rate could not be changed to 9%, but have now been told that the Government will actively examine that. We begged for this for smaller businesses, in particular. I welcome that it will happen, but it is being done as an election trick rather than in terms of could be done for small businesses.

As far back as 2020, a report told us that businesses were struggling. An ESRI working paper from January 2022 referred to the financial distress of small and medium enterprises. These problems have been there for a long time. Rather than short-term and once-off measures, we need to recognise that we need transformative action in a new world with ongoing supports.

See this speech in context