Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House today. It is very nice to be in this House. I did not want to step in too far in case it was bad luck for the future. I am a small business owner with fewer than five employees. Before Covid we were struggling. I have a small solicitor's practice and we struggle to pay our employees' wages and our rates, rent and insurance. It is always a struggle. With Covid it is even more of a struggle. We took advantage of the wage subsidy package and we were delighted to do so. Things still have not taken off. My business provides legal services and we rely on the property market. Things have slowed down somewhat. It is making life a lot harder. My business is just a small example of many other businesses throughout the country.

There are 250,000 small businesses in Ireland and more than 90% of those employed are employed by small business owners. Before Covid we put ourselves out there and got very little return. With Covid it is absolutely crippling.Many even larger businesses around the country are looking for support. It is important for the Government to provide this because liquidity will be the only thing that will help businesses survive this period of Covid recession I think we will all see. This is becoming clearer and clearer to all of us as we hear stories around the country of businesses unable to survive. I heard yesterday that in the bus transport industry, companies are buying buses to the tune of nearly €500,000 that are sitting idle. This is not sustainable. In the tourism industry, various festivals around the country have been cancelled, including the Cork Jazz Festival and the Galway festival, as well as race meetings. I do not think we realise yet the absolute tragedy coming down the tracks at us. It is really worrying but it shows that a stable Government is really important. If we did not have a stable Government, we would not see the July stimulus package that is so badly needed.

It is great to see this microfinance legislation. I welcome it wholeheartedly. I agree with other speakers that many businesses do not know about the restart allowance, the enterprise support, the financial planning assistance or the online voucher. We need to do much more to help small businesses because once a business closes down it is very hard to get it back up and running. The trick to keeping the economy going is to keep businesses open. As my colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, said, many business founders or owners have taken pay cuts, and that will be seen across the country. Many of them have not taken a wage. They have done this not only because they want to ensure they survive and get through Covid and this recession, but also because they have put their heart and soul into their businesses, which are almost their families in many cases. We need to support those who are supporting others.

I would like to see, as others have said, a waiver of the commercial rates for a longer period. In addition, many small business owners and self-employed people are very worried about their income tax liabilities come November. We need to look at whether there is perhaps some other microfinance-type loan for them to spread their tax liability for the year over a few years. This is really worrying for many companies and people, and I think there will be a lot of hardship come November. I welcome the Bill, however, and I hope we do a lot more to help small businesses around the country, which are the backbone of our economy.