Pádraig Ó Céidigh (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Iarraim ar an gCeannaire cuireadh a thabhairt don Aire, an Teachta Heather Humphreys, chuig an Teach. The GDPR is becoming a major issue for small businesses in Ireland.It is a significant cost and a significant risk for them be they sole practitioners in services, solicitors, accountants and especially doctors and medics who are dealing with patients, and also a lot of other small businesses. We should have a conversation or a discussion around that to see what we can do to facilitate small businesses. It is not that they are trying to avoid anything, but it looks like one big brush has come from the EU, across all businesses big and small. The SME sector employs more than 1 million people in Ireland - 98% of all businesses in Ireland are small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in rural Ireland - and yet again it is the SME sector that is suffering significantly from this bureaucratic requirement with regard to compliance with all of the GDPR. The compliance requirements for businesses that employ two, three, four or five people are very similar to those required of large multinationals.