John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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15. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to provide an update on the steps being taken to help reduce the cost of doing business; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50598/25]

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Apologies for my punctuality.

I acknowledge the work the Minister has done in relation to small businesses, especially the establishment of the small enterprise unit within his Department and the National Enterprise Hub.

I ask the Minister to provide an update on the steps he is taking to reduce the cost of business.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Clendennen. The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years arising from wider inflationary trends, including energy costs. It is important to note that costs for firms, as measured through the CSO’s wholesale price index, are declining and are down 3% in the 12 months to August 2025.

Most recently, the Government has taken action to address business costs through the publication of the action plan on competitiveness and productivity and the convening of the cost of business advisory forum, both commitments in the programme for Government. The focus of the action plan on competitiveness and productivity is action that can be taken to strengthen Irish competitiveness and productivity, which in turn will lead to improvements in our economic performance. The development of the action plan was informed by extensive consultation across government with external stakeholders. My Department held a series of bilateral engagements with other Departments in the areas of infrastructure, housing and research and innovation. A core theme of the plan is regulating for growth and controlling costs with 18 actions, including five priority actions, focused on addressing this key issue. Key actions include better regulation, which will decrease regulatory burdens across business, address high legal costs and improve competition in our markets.

Complementary to the action plan, the cost of business advisory forum delivers on the commitment to support small businesses, enterprises and industries across a number of sectors. The forum's key objective is to examine and identify the concerns of the enterprise sector around the impact of the rising costs of doing business by creating a structured space where business owners and representative bodies can speak directly to decision-makers about the real-world impact of regulations, fees and operational challenges. The forum has already met a number of times on energy costs, security of supply and insurance costs. The forum will also focus on other cost driver topics, with each meeting including relevant regulators and agencies to ensure actionable outcomes. The findings will inform a report and set of recommendations to Government to take immediate action to address these short-term issues that merit a changed approach for business owners.

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister. I welcome the cost of business advisory forum. Over the summer, I conducted a survey with over 600 respondents. A key finding was that over two thirds of SMEs that engaged in the survey were uncertain about the future and lacked the confidence we need to ensure they have. Other key findings were around easing the cost of labour pressure, cutting energy costs, tackling insurance reform and reducing the tax burden. When it comes to competitiveness in particular, local enterprise offices have a greater role to play. I ask the Minister to look at a review of the role local enterprise offices can play. More often than not, small businesses go to local enterprise offices, are offered mentoring and so on but when they want a small few euro to expand their business, considering the pressures of operational costs are too much, they are ineligible for grants. I ask the Minister to consider broadening grant eligibility to ensure businesses can continue to progress, create further employment and protect jobs.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Clendennen has been a firm advocate for small family businesses. His voice has been very strong in that regard. We know many of those operate around the kitchen table; they do not have a finance or HR director. They employ two thirds of all people in our economy. That is why we have worked very hard to reduce the red tape in LEOs. We set about working through the centre of excellence in Enterprise Ireland, reducing the administrative burden and number of questions asked for a number of these supports. We reduced questions by 47% across a number of grant forms. We will continue at pace through our simpler, lighter, faster approach, reflecting that the most valuable resource businesses have is their time. We have increased the output of the national enterprise hub from 180 supports to 250 across 32 Government agencies and Departments and with operators on the other end of the phone. The hub had over 7,000 individual inquiries in August alone. Those are leads on the phone, following up on supporting businesses. We have also worked with Enterprise Ireland, reducing the number of questions and red tape, and interoperability of some of those applications where the same information has been furnished previously.

John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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When it comes to protecting jobs, I ask the Minister to strongly consider, along with his Cabinet colleagues, introducing the 9% VAT rate for the hospitality sector in the upcoming budget. The Minister spoke about the kitchen tables to boardroom tables where decisions were made. Small businesses need help. A VAT rate of 9% is an important stimulus in that regard. To look at the figures, there are 20,000 companies with 200,000 employees. Of those companies, 76% have fewer than ten employees and another 20% have fewer than 50. This will target over 95% of businesses in every town and village, ensuring economic and social well-being and community benefit, whether through the coffee shop, restaurant or other small businesses. I urge the Minister and his colleagues to ensure the 9% VAT rate is part of budget 2026.

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his strong support of the 9% VAT proposal. I know as tourism Minister as well that the key link in our identity is the authentic offering we have through our independent businesses like small coffee shops and restaurants. That will be key to the Government's response. We know the pressure they are under. There are over 240,000 jobs in regional locations and an €8 billion sector that we need to sustain. That will benefit everyone because the more activity there is, the more the money flowing into businesses goes out into the community. That is where people invest their money because they are a key part of the community. We will bring forward our tourism policy next month, which will look at how to expand Fáilte Ireland's remit to restaurants, helping them to develop their business models, help with costs, get them on board with digitalisation in terms of sustainability grants, and enhance their capacity. Tourism is keenly linked with our SMEs. They go hand in glove. They need to grow together. That is why having tourism at the heart of the Department of enterprise is important.

The work the Deputy did engaging with businesses over the past number of weeks is commendable and will form part of discussions as we approach budget 2026. I look forward to the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers, having a strong enterprise budget. This is budget No. 1 of the new Government. It needs to be an enterprise budget focused on sustaining job growth, keeping 2.81 million people employed - a record in our country - and giving everyone the key opportunity in life of a job.