James O'Connor (Cork East, Fianna Fail)
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9. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will outline his strategy to address the rising cost of doing business, particularly for small and medium enterprises; if he will detail any planned interventions aimed at improving cost competitiveness in areas such as energy, insurance, labour and regulatory compliance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33207/25]

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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10. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the further steps the Department is taking to support small and medium enterprises to reduce the cost of energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32906/25]

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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16. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the additional supports being provided to SMEs to address rising costs and staffing challenges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33029/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 ,10 and 16 together.

I thank the Deputies for these important questions on the SME sector. Ireland's SME sector has faced a number of economic shocks in recent years and these have resulted in very significant cost increases. While most of these have been international in nature, with energy price inflation the most significant, there have been costs associated with domestic measures, including policies aimed at improving working conditions. Although there have been improvements in wholesale price inflation, business costs and especially energy prices remain elevated. Our small size and peripheral location contribute to higher electricity prices in Ireland. We also have a widely spread, low-density population, which means that network and connection costs are higher.

The Government has been active in providing support for businesses facing increased costs over the past several years. In April 2024, I announced a substantial package of measures that continue to aid firms. These measures included increased payments under the innovation grant scheme and the energy efficiency grant scheme and the implementation of an enhanced SME test on Government decisions.

The National Enterprise Hub was launched in 2024 and has been designed as an entry point to aid businesses to find relevant supports and help for their business. Most recently, budget 2025 provided for the introduction of the power up grant and introduced changes which reduced costs by means of the increased employer PRSI threshold. The programme for Government set out a commitment to establish a cost of business advisory forum. The first meeting of the forum took place on 11 June where numerous organisations representing Ireland’s enterprise sector were joined by officials from a variety of State agencies and Government Departments. It is anticipated the forum will meet regularly over the coming six months, with each meeting devoted to a distinct area of concern to businesses, including business costs, infrastructure and regulation.

In response to international economic developments and in line with other commitments in the programme for Government, we have also accelerated the timeframe for the development of the action plan for competitiveness and productivity. The action plan is currently being prepared and discussions on competitiveness will be had at the summit in July. The plan will focus on domestic policy measures, which can make the Irish economy more competitive and resilient to economic shocks. It is expected that the plan will address areas that are currently impacting on the ability of SMEs to compete internationally, including costs, SME scaling and increasing the rate of research, development and innovation among firms, which will be critical.

We have taken a number of actions over the past months since my appointment as enterprise Minister, and we will continue in that vein. We are coming to our fourth piece of omnibus legislation in an EU context. At the heart of that is doing things, as I mentioned, simpler, faster and lighter. We need to bring that to the heart of the enterprise sector. The Deputy will be aware we have taken a number of decisions on sick pay, the trajectory to a living wage and trying to ensure businesses remain viable so employment can be retained at the significant point it is. He will be aware also that we have increased employment by approximately 90,000 over the past year. That is 90,000 families with an additional income going into them. We all know that high-value jobs are the best route to meet one's ambition in life and to give everyone a fair chance. We are focused on delivering that.

At our competitiveness summit we will have a significant focus on infrastructure. Working with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, we are trying to put together a competitive fund within the Department. We know the priorities of the current national development plan review are housing, water and wastewater, energy and our competitiveness. Those are the four key areas. That is why, as a Government, we need to prioritise those with a laser focus because if everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. We need to be clear on that and send that signal strongly to the enterprise sector. We are also focusing, in the context of budget 2026, on our value proposition as a country. It will be key for the SME sector. Taxation changes like VAT will be important for the hospitality sector. It is important in the programme for Government talks that we work towards and deliver on those to ensure we are giving a strong stimulus to those sectors that are most vulnerable. We know across the economy that approximately three quarters of all minimum wage workers exist in retail and hospitality. That is a significant challenge to those businesses because of the regulatory impact it has had. No other Government has done as much for employment rights and supporting the well-being and rights of employees, but we also have to be cautious to ensure businesses remain viable on that trajectory. That is why it is key in decisions taken to ensure that and to ensure businesses continue to grow and prosper. Last week, subject to the establishment of our small business unit, we had our first meeting of the cost of business advisory forum, which had a huge turnout from many of the regulators and a lot of the State agencies. We need to be clear that we are charting a pathway forward. The interoperability of some of these rules and regulations set by independent regulators from different areas and how they impact on the costs and viability of business can be significant. We need to take a number of actions in that regard. That is why the outworkings of that forum will be critical in delivering the Government's vision of supporting our SME sector and keeping that growth.

As I always point out, and as I did in reply to Question No. 2, many of these businesses that employ two thirds of people across our country are operating from the kitchen table. They do not have a finance director or HR director. They are doing all of that work themselves. They are working from five to nine and we in government need to everything to vindicate their efforts and ensure they remain viable, which is key to our economic success.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister and compliment his Department for all its hard work. We are in an economy with full employment. That does not happen by chance. I refer to all the work that has been done in the past and needs to be done in the future. We are in uncertain times. We are looking at tariffs. We are working with our European partners to negotiate tariffs with the United States. Now, more than ever, we need to be supporting our smaller businesses. I welcome the supports mentioned, but many small businesses in County Offaly and across the country are still not sure how to access them or whether they even qualify for them. I have spoken with business owners who are unaware that certain schemes exist in the first place, and that is a real gap. Will the Minister look at simplifying the application process and at rolling out a strong national and local awareness campaign through the local enterprise office, chambers of commerce and media? We need to meet these businesses where they are, and not just on the websites. Will the Minister also provide figures on how many businesses nationwide and in Offaly have made use of the wage subsidy scheme and upskilling programmes like Skillnet or others under the national training fund?

I want to ask about commercial rates. Small businesses in towns are still under major pressure from inflation, energy bills and wage demands. Will the rates relief continue into next year? They need certainty now.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for mentioning those important areas. I turn first to simplification. I have met Enterprise Ireland and our LEO sector, and we are keen to drive the message home that we need conditions that are simple for family businesses to get those supports, critically in the transition to digitalisation and sustainability. If we do not support our businesses, it will not be possible to meet that transition. We have established a National Enterprise Hub that has more than 250 supports from 29 Government Departments and agencies all under one portal. They have a return time of less than 24 hours, with phone operators at the other end of the line to reply to customers. That is critical to assist them with some bespoke examples that pertain to their business models. That has been successful. We have seen a significant increase in callers and people interacting on the website over past months. You can see the advertising campaign under way to make people aware of those supports which we want to get out to businesses.

We also have our SME tests, which I am trying to get into the Cabinet handbook, which direct that an impact assessment must be carried out on all memorandums, primary legislation changes and statutory instrument changes - at the heart of each decision - to demonstrate how it impacts on our SME sector and in thinking small first. It will be important to reach that milestone.

On the National Training Fund legislation, the heads of Bill went before Cabinet this week. That will be keenly focused on our tertiary education sector, but also on our SMEs and how we can get money into upskilling, life-long learning and continuing to train people across our economy. It is critical to our success that we have the skill base to ensure we can grow and absorb the huge opportunity that is out there. That will be very important.

With regard to other supports, we are currently preparing our pre-budget submission for budget 2026. We, along with the Ministers of State, Deputies Smyth and Dillon, have met a number of the sectors. Yesterday we had our enterprise forum where we heard all the views on what our enterprise sector would like to see in budget 2026. They are wide-ranging. As a country, last year was the first time we went over the €100 billion barrier, with a budget of €105.5 billion. That shows the significant improvements we have made, but the Deputy rightly alluded to the significant clouds on the horizon. We have to be careful we are hitting the right parts.

Key from my point of view will be significant changes in the research and development tax credit and, hopefully, we can get small, indigenous companies as part of that. As well as supporting the enterprise sector, we are trying to reduce regulation, which is important, and continuing to get as much scaling up and as many new companies. We have established a target of having 1,000 new companies, through Enterprise Ireland, over the next five years and getting up to 275,000 employees, supported by Enterprise Ireland. We are also trying to ensure significant investment in regional Ireland. It will be core and central to our ministerial team to ensure the regions grow strongly. I know that is something I share with the Deputy.

Tony McCormack (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I now turn to the issue of high-street retail, which is in serious decline. In towns like Tullamore, Birr, Edenderry and similar towns all over Ireland, we see more and more shops closing. Footfall is down, rent and staffing costs are up and the result is that once thriving town centres are slowly emptying out. This is visible, urgent and deeply worrying. The reality is that this cannot be solved by one scheme or Department alone.

We need a national joined-up plan that looks at how to bring life back to our high streets. That includes cross-departmental action, enterprise, housing, local government and finance. We need real incentives for retail on the high street, not just to keep existing shops afloat, but to make it attractive for new retail businesses to open. That could mean help with start-up costs, targeted grants for fitting out vacant units, supports for marketing, rent, or even pop-up retail pilots in empty spaces.

What plans does the Department have to support and revive high street retail? Will the Minister work with his Cabinet colleagues to make this a priority in government?

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely. Retail is the biggest employer in the economy. It is so important to our vision for enterprise.

There are significant supports already in place. One key example I always give is the energy efficiency grant. At the moment, one of the key ways we have to reduce business costs is not to take money off businesses in the first place. Front and centre of that is the energy efficiency grant. I have seen case studies, such as the example of a shop owner in Donegal who has a convenience store with a deli, who, by upgrading his LED lighting and refrigeration, can save €1,500 a month on his utility bills. We want to see business owners involved in schemes like that, in particular in the areas of sustainability and digitalisation. We want to make the conditions easy for them to access it and to get a quicker turnaround in the schemes. We met Enterprise Ireland at its centre of excellence, which liaises with LEOs, this week with that target in mind. We are trying to support businesses as much as we can.

Deputy McCormack quite rightly points out that there are other Departments that are key to the development of our main streets. Vacancy is a big challenge, in particular in regard to accommodation. Getting people to live over the shop, as it were, has been a big challenge because the regulatory burden is very significant in terms of making developments viable in that space. Our new housing plan will be launched in July. I hope we will see actions that involve working with the Minister, Deputy Browne, in that regard to ensure that happens. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, is very focused on that in terms of planning exemptions. There is a lot of work we can do.

We are also working closely with the local authorities. We see very different stimulus plans from various local authorities in terms of how they can bring a bit of agility and how they deploy their rates stimuli, rates budget and waivers, etc. We are up for any way we can support an increased number of retailers in our country. The Deputy will see some of the measures that we have taken on retailers' costs in recent months, which we hope will support them and, equally, help retain employment and jobs, which is our focus every single day in the Department.