Jimmy Harte (Labour)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, who comes from a business background so he is an ideal person to speak about small business. Like Senator Mary White, I have been in business since my early 20s when in setting up a business one did not have the support structures in place today. Many people went into business fairly blind. We just got into the water, kept swimming, got to the other side and perhaps had to start to swim back again.

Currently, it is difficult for any small business to survive and I am aware of the difficulties. A large number of people, approximately 250,000, work in the retail and services sectors. They are the people who drive the economy and keep it ticking over but currently they are being hammered on all fronts.

I am delighted to learn that upward only rent reviews will be scrapped because many of these rents are paid to institutional investors who are getting considerable rents on high streets throughout the country. Upward only rent reviews must be abolished because they are strangling the people who are expected to invest these companies. Access to credit is a burning issue for small businesses. I welcomed the establishment of the Credit Review Office, but perhaps the Minister of State might consider the idea of small businesses approaching the office before they approach their bank. When a small business goes to its bank and is refused finance, its head goes to the ground. It just does not have the energy or confidence to go to the Credit Review Office and back again to the bank. The office has already stated it is not very busy; perhaps, therefore, some businesses could talk to it in advance of approaching a bank. They could perhaps have their plans approved by it and then approach their bank. It would give them confidence going to the bank to have a plan that has been given the thumbs up by the Credit Review Office. That would be an important development.

I welcome the partial credit guarantee scheme. It will be important for small businesses to even get overdraft facilities to maintain their businesses and retain employees. In addition, the internship programme will be an important asset. It is a well thought out strategy because when somebody starts a job, he or she can make the job his or her own. The problem for an employer is taking the risk of investing in a new employee; therefore, the internship programme will be a boost for many small businesses and even larger ones.

I welcome the establishment of the small business advisory group which the Minister of State said will meet next week. I urge him to include substantial representation from the Border areas on the group. Anybody who manages to maintain a business in a Border area should receive an award. If one has a business in Cork, Galway or Dublin, one does not realise how the swings in the value of sterling can affect one's business. A business in a Border area can approach a bank with a good business plan, but the bank can query how it will be affected by the value of sterling rising or dropping, which can knock the plan out of kilter. The small business advisory group must place great emphasis on trade along the Border from Dundalk to Donegal and Derry. I hope that will be part of its brief.

Tourism has been mentioned by other Members. Donegal, like other counties in the west, is highly dependent on tourism. It has a product to sell; I doubt that anybody would dispute the fact that it is probably the most beautiful county in Ireland. It gets its fair share of tourists, but it could attract more if it marketed its economy and attractions through better promotion by the tourism bodies, better marketing and with better infrastructure such as Internet access. This is important for people travelling in the west. They might be on a leisure holiday, but they still tend to do business in the evenings from their holiday home or hotel. It is important that we provide good broadband infrastructure to attract such people.

The country got a good bounce from the visits of Queen Elizabeth and President Obama. Between the two visits we hosted the Europa Cup final in the Aviva Stadium. It was unfortunate for the soccer fraternity that the Europa Cup did not get the stage it deserved. Perhaps FIFA or UEFA will return to Dublin to host a Champions League final. There were two Portuguese teams in the Europa Cup final and they brought 15,000 fans with them. Perhaps if it had been Manchester City, Liverpool or Chelsea-----