Martin Brady (Fianna Fail)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary. I had some dealings with him in respect of a number of people who wished to set up business projects. He was most helpful to those involved and gave them the confidence to proceed with their ventures. I was extremely impressed by what he did and thank him for becoming involved.

It is great to make statements on business interests of all sizes. On their own, statements are of no value to anyone. However, they do help to create awareness. The best and most practical way to discover what is happening is to meet people involved in business. I have done this during the past few months. One of the individuals with whom I had discussions runs a shop, petrol station and café. I know the man in question and he informed me how his business was doing. As a result of what has happened in the construction industry, the level of his business has decreased. In recent years approximately 30% of his business came from construction workers who used to purchase rolls, etc., from his shop each morning. This trade has disappeared. He received a letter from his local authority which indicated that his rates were being increased by 30%, while his insurance costs rose by 15%. He was faced, therefore, with a situation where two increases had been imposed upon him by those from whom he obtained services at a time when the flow of cash into his business had decreased. He indicated that the road outside his premises had been in a dreadful state for the past nine months - as a result of the appearance of a number of potholes - and that the local authority would not repair it. This provided me with some idea about how difficult it was for this man and others like him to remain in business. He approached the banks for a loan but was informed that they could not understand why he would need a loan, particularly as his was a cash business which should, therefore, provide him with a flow of cash. This indicated to me that the banks did not even understand what being in business entailed. It was interesting that the individual in question was up-front in indicating the nature of his problems to me.

I was also in contact with another individual who has a plumbing business and employs six people. Unfortunately, this man contracted motor neurone disease and was obliged to let his business go because, as a result of the fact that his children are young, there was no one to take it over. He could not obtain assistance and I discovered that he and others like him were not entitled to any form of payment from any source. I persuaded him to approach his community welfare officer, from whom he is now in receipt of some money. My point is that if one's business collapses, one cannot obtain assistance from anyone. I will not discuss the matter in detail but there are others who get everything they seek, including houses, virtually for nothing.

Small businesses do not receive adequate support or encouragement. Many of them are closing because they are asking what is the point. In general the overheads have increased and the number of customers has reduced. That is a problem we need to address. Earlier Senator Carty referred to energy cost reductions. While that is true, those reductions have not been sufficient to keep a business afloat.

I spoke to a man last week who got a small job in a factory in my area. He told me that he did not think he would stay in the job because he would get more from the dole. I pointed out to him that he does not get it from the dole but from his neighbour, from me and from everybody else. That is a widespread mentality that we need to address. I make a contrast between people who make an effort to build up a business and people who avail of every opportunity to get money from the State. They claim that society has let them down and is not looking after them. There is no such thing as society looking after people. In society all men and women are accountable and responsible for themselves, and should also look after their neighbours. The concept of society having to look after individuals is a myth that we need to eliminate.

I will give an example of how people making a genuine effort in business are being hampered. NERA officers go around inspecting hotels at night. Last week an hotelier, who is also a member of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, made the point to me that he employs local secondary-school students aged under 16. It gives them a bit of independence and a few bob. They need to be let off work at 10 p.m. He then needs to bring in someone else for an hour or two if the hotel has a dinner dance or whatever - it does not always run to schedule. This is a very awkward situation. He told me that NERA inspectors came into his hotel at 9.30 p.m. one night in the middle of a function looking for books and asking about people. They took up about an hour of his time. This is going on wholesale. It has been talked about for quite some time, but I do not know what is being done about it. We are overregulated in unnecessary areas. I would redeploy people engaged in that type of nonsense to do something worthwhile to help people and not to go around hampering people in business.

There is also duplication with local authority services. Local authority officials come to restaurants and pubs to inspect grease traps. The restaurateur or publican then needs to hire a private person to do the same thing and remove it. It should be sufficient for the private service supplier to issue a certificate and pass it to the local authority. These are some of the things that put major constraints on people in business, some of whom have been in business for many years. Many small businesses that have been established over two generations are now gone because not enough is being done.

Senator Mullen earlier referred to the Minister for Finance, Deputy Brian Lenihan. I wish the Minister well. I admire his qualities. I met the Minister recently to discuss local authority rates. The rates are based on valuations from 2005 when property values were at their highest. As we know the Valuation Office sets the rate and passes it on to the local authorities and it is not done by the local authorities themselves, which is a crazy situation. The Minister was doing something about it.

Those are the problems. With all those overheads it is very difficult to survive in small business. I learned that from going around and asking people how they were getting on. Every time I meet people in business I ask them how things are going for them. It is the only way to find out. We could talk in here morning, noon and night about it, but one will never know anything without going out into the arena oneself.