Peter Roche (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It would be pleasant if President Trump came along next week and said that this was an April fools' joke, but I doubt that will happen. There has been lots of commentary over the past couple of days about the impact this will have on our multinational corporations. However, I want to speak a little about the SMEs that make up 99.8% of our Irish businesses and employ more than two thirds of the workforce, which is an interesting statistic. Galway East is, thankfully, home to a thriving network of SMEs, for example, in the agrifood sector, which is the backbone of our rural economy and communities. That needs to be maintained and sustained. Many of these small businesses rely on imported ingredients and materials, some of which come from the United States. They include raw ingredients like nuts, fruit, packaging, specialist feeds and tech components. New tariffs on both US imports and EU retaliatory measures threaten the profitability of these businesses. Rising input costs cannot always be passed on to customers or consumers, especially in a competitive export market. The SMEs are not multinational corporations. They operate on tight margins. They are often in family ownership and are deeply embedded in our local economy. Their resilience is critical to rural jobs, food production and regional sustainability. We need to protect our indigenous businesses and not allow them to become collateral damage as a consequence. Tariff wars between global superpowers like the EU and the US should not become a burden borne by Irish SMEs.

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