Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State. I always enjoy his visits to the House because we have good debates on this important topic.

We reoriented the economy too much towards construction and public administration. It is very difficult that correcting that orientation increases unemployment from 4% to 14.8%, as it currently stands. However, the Minister is moving in the right direction. We must try to move away from an economy where so many auctioneers and solicitors were transferring property to each other, with banks completely obsessed by property and missing the enterprises the Minister of State is here to promote.

There are still problems with finance. We own AIB and we used to own the Industrial Credit Corporation, ICC. I approved of the sale of ICC because when the economy was booming it did not matter. However, are there some ICC executives or people of that type around to form a wing within AIB dedicated to entrepreneurship and small business? Are those talents still around? Perhaps the Minister would investigate whether they are there. We need something like that, as it was a great start-up institution. I recall a report from Bloxham Stockbrokers which stated that our pillar banks were hardly interested in small and medium enterprises at all. They opted entirely for the property bug and people relied on the foreign banks to provide the finance for small and medium enterprises. However, those banks will not stay here now because the Government is supporting the pillar banks so strongly. Therefore, there is a gap and perhaps a new type of ICC, as a branch within the State-owned AIB, might be considered.

With so many premises empty in our towns and cities, embarrassingly so at this stage, upward-only rent reviews should be examined. I hear criticisms from the owners of small and medium enterprises that local authorities are increasing rents to businesses that are renting premises from those authorities. That is also worth examining.

In the transport sector, after 80 years of trying to put small bus companies out of business, those companies actually own 80% of the fleet. It is wrong to have direct award contracts instead of competitive tendering.

Such people could have very fine start-up businesses, were the State to allow them to tender for procurement. However, the literature on procurement produced by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation does not wash in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, just down the street. That Department simply does not want to know and actually boasts in its literature that, as it got a direct award contract, there was no competitive tendering. In response, I say, "Thanks a lot guys". We are trying to develop economics in the country and not promote monopoly, as the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport is so prone to do. Moreover, there also are elements of this problem in tourism. As the Minister of State is aware, part of the cost is that the NAMA hotels undermined commercial hotels, which undermined bed and breakfast businesses, which are the small businesses that might develop. Consequently, one must look again at how capital subsidies availed of by large entrepreneurs and producers put the smaller person out of business on the basis of unfair competition.

As the Minister of State is aware, Senator Mary Ann O'Brien has made great speeches about the problems associated with sick leave and I refer to the figures I received from ISME yesterday. That organisation states that in small enterprises, the average employee is sick for three days a year. The rate is six days in larger enterprises - because the personal touch is lost - and is 12 days in the public sector. However, the Department of Social Protection picks up the tab in the public sector and, therefore, an effort to effect a reduction in people absenting themselves sick in the economy, which I would support, probably should start in the health service, which is where the main rate of absenteeism occurs. However, to push the cost onto small enterprises, the representatives of which claim the lowest number of sick leave absences, is something the Minister of State may wish to consider.

As for recessions, one never knows. Ryanair was launched during the last recession and I believe it employs 8,000 people at present. Its first flight was from Watford to Gatwick in 1985 and it now carries 85 million passengers. The Kerry Group was launched in the 1970s and one of Deputy Perry's ministerial predecessors, Mark Clinton, virtually gave away the Dairy Disposal Company because he thought Denis Brosnan would do a much better job and we are celebrating the success of that vision today. Perhaps there are activities within the public sector that could be transferred to small and medium-sized enterprises. Denis Brosnan started out with a small to medium-sized enterprise, which no longer is the case, and everyone has gained today from that.

As for enterprise boards, I am concerned about them being associated with local government because it is known from the McLoughlin report that local government in Ireland has massive inefficiencies, particularly at managerial level. Is there a danger that some of these inefficiencies could transfer themselves into the vital work enterprises do? My other misgiving concerns Forfás moving to the Department. It did have independence and carried out useful work. I can appreciate the reason it was a good idea to bring it in because the Department got all those talented people. However, will they become more like traditional civil servants or will they lose their dynamism by coming into the Department? Will some of the talented people leave because the Department does not have the reputation for being the most enterprising or innovative in the world? I support the points made by Senator Clune about the teaching of languages and Members also have stressed the teaching of mathematics, both of which are vital. In addition, one should support people like Jerry Kennelly in County Kerry, who is running entrepreneurship events in schools and is generating huge enthusiasm each year when the awards are given out.

The policies the Minister has outlined are excellent but one must make sure that each institution, law and public body is in tune with what the Department is trying to do. It is in this spirit I made these suggestions, particularly on what is to be done with AIB. Will it be possible to develop a section similar to the industrial credit corporation in AIB? While we now own it, we do not do so to enable it to go back to being a property-obsessed bank, which got itself into trouble the last time. I wish the Minister of State good luck as Members will be watching out and will be wishing him all the best in his endeavours. This is the way to reformulate the Irish economy for which I am sure he has widespread support in the House.