John Kelly (Labour)

I welcome the Minister and share his sentiments. Most of what he said concerned what we needed to do, but by now it is what we must do. Everyone knows we need to do something. I will pass on to the Minister another book my brother wrote, "How? When You Don't Know How". If the Minister does not know how, he might if he reads this book.

We met the Minister's officials at a committee this morning and I agree with Senator White; the Department has a greater role to play. If we asked 100 people on the street what Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation officials did, they would not be able to say. There is a host of agencies, but no one knows where to go. Everything is media driven and all people are reading in the newspapers is that there is no hope. The Department must get into people's faces and let them know what is available, driving them back to work. There must be greater use of back-to-work schemes.

It was said to the Minister's assistant secretary that a money advice and budgeting service for small businesses would be a good idea. She said the idea had been floated in the Department, but these ideas are left floating for years. It is critical this one be dealt with immediately because small businesses are going out of business every day. An hotel in my local town that employed 40 people had to close because it was not able to pay local authority and water rates. They were small amounts, but they were big enough to shut down the business. The cost to the taxpayer of 40 people going on the dole at the same time is €840,000 per year. If there was a money advice and budgeting service for small business, it could discuss business plans with banks, local authorities and other agencies to keep people at work. If a business can continue to trade without paying its rates, we should take this into consideration.