Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The Government is committed to backing business and will continue to work closely with small businesses nationwide to support their growth, help them find new markets and assist them in remaining competitive and resilient. The 31 local enterprise offices, LEOs, play an extremely important role providing assistance directly to micro, small and medium-sized businesses as well as promoting entrepreneurship within towns and communities. LEOs are the first-stop shop at a local level providing expert advice and guidance, financial assistance and offer a signposting service for Government supports available to businesses. It is this unique position that makes the LEOs so effective. They help businesses start and grow in every county and region, as evidenced by the year-on-year employment growth of LEO client companies. The LEOs offer grants to small businesses to enhance their productivity and improve their competitiveness, as well as to assist businesses in taking advantage of opportunities and addressing the challenges of doing business, in particular in decarbonisation and digitisation.

The Government recognises the recent challenges facing small businesses, especially in hospitality and retail, and has moved to support these sectors specifically by providing a top-up of up to €3,000 as part of the energy efficiency grant. Almost 43,000 businesses in these sectors are now in line for this change. This will help businesses to reduce their carbon emissions and overall energy costs by accelerating the adoption of low-carbon technologies or processes, and this enhanced grant for hospitality and retail is available from this week.

As the Deputy will be aware, as part of budget 2024, the Government signed off on a package of €250 million for the increased cost of business grant, which is a vital measure for small and medium-sized enterprises. Local authorities, funded through my Department, are administering the grant to qualifying businesses, including those in hospitality, on behalf of my Department and I strongly encourage hospitality businesses to take up this grant.

My Department is also developing a national enterprise hub, which will be launched shortly and will give businesses an entry point at national level to all Government supports. The national enterprise hub will include dedicated phone lines with business advisers to direct businesses to the most appropriate assistance for their needs, including for the hospitality sector.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I fully understand the pressures businesses are under throughout the economy at this time, not least those businesses in retail, wholesale or hospitality, which are key. We are supporting them, with €250 million through ICOB and a 9% VAT rate for electricity and gas out to October. There is the grant in respect of energy efficiency that I spoke about, at €15 million. VAT thresholds have been increased for goods and services. There is also tax warehousing at 0%. We are encouraging people to enter into a phased payment agreement by 1 May and to work with the Revenue Commissioners, because we are not out to close any business. We want to work with businesses and keep them viable.

Inflation has fallen significantly and is now 4.1%, whereas it was double that in November 2022, again demonstrating that policies are working. If we are compared with other jurisdictions, failure rates for businesses are about 1.9 times higher in the UK. In our jurisdiction, that has stabilised, with a failure rate of 27 per 10,000 businesses. It was much higher pre-pandemic and, indeed, as we know, at a very difficult time in 2008, 2009 and 2010. I am demonstrating the work we are doing and will continue to do to listen to businesses, to work with them and to ensure they will stay viable.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I congratulate the new Minister and Minister of State, and the renewed Minister of State as well, and wish them every good fortune and support in their tenure.

I wish to ask a simple question. There appears to be strong evidence to the effect that many businesses are affected by a multiplicity of regulations imposed upon them and are having difficulty. Recently, a small business brought to my attention the fact that it had to raise an extra €250,000 before ever starting work as a result of the many regulations that negatively impacted it. Can an audit be done of the extent to which this has been the case and how we can directly interact with enterprises, including small businesses, throughout the country to identify and address these negative factors?

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their questions. In my comparisons, I am talking about Northern Ireland as well. Hopefully, we do not see that as Brexit Britain.

We are working hard to formulate a cost-of-doing-business package for the SME sector. I hope we will see that in the weeks ahead. We know the acute pressure the sector is under. Every time businesses came under pressure, including from energy costs and inflation, we were there to provide them assistance. We are continuing along that trajectory. There are an array of grants and supports, but we know we have to do more. We are clear on that front and we will do more. That is why I am listening to businesses and examining PRSI and a number of other areas where we can assist them with some of the regulatory changes they have experienced. This also goes to Deputy Durkan’s point on supporting businesses. We are doing just that.

Our economy is still in a strong position and we have 2.7 million people employed, which is a record number. Any decision taken in my Department will be evidenced-based, support employees and businesses, and try to ensure they remain on a sustainable footing.