Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I appreciate the concerns the Deputy has raised. For any business owners, it is incumbent on the Government and the LEOs to ensure they are sustainable, have resilience built into their business plan and have access to the mentoring, training and advice that are essential to keeping businesses afloat. Raising the importance of financial literacy and ensuring businesses have access to training workshops is part of the local enterprise offering. They have peer-to-peer learning and engagement with key advisers within each local authority. We want to continue to support this through tailor-made programmes. The start your own business programme has an important financial module. Enterprise Ireland also invests in early-stage leadership development to ensure companies on that journey are supported.

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