Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will do our very best to have a strong budget for businesses. That is central to what we are doing in the Department. The benefits of our SME package are now being felt across the country. The reduced rate of PRSI will take effect from 1 October for workers on the national minimum wage. That process will be linked directly to the Low Pay Commission to ensure that minimum wage workers will not be at the higher rate of PRSI. There are also a number of energy efficiency grants that are very important to the work on the sustainability piece. Digital transformation is key to the SME sector but it is one area where I would be quite alarmed because some SMEs have a lot of work to do in that regard. We have set a target of 90% by 2030 and it is very important that, as a Government, we support them on that journey. We will be focused on that in our budgetary package. Our taxation submission is ready to go to the Department of Finance this week and we will be liaising with the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on the expenditure side to see how we can continue the support in that regard.

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