Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In conclusion, my Department, the Minister, Deputy Coveney and myself are committed to supporting businesses of all sizes throughout Ireland, but we are acutely aware of the impacts on smaller businesses. As I have mentioned, we have done a lot of work in this regard and we have made much progress, but there is always room for more. Crucial to that is the ongoing level of engagement and monitoring, not just with the representative bodies and the trade associations, but individually with businesses. There is an important role for public representatives be they in this House, the Dáil, the European Parliament and on our city and county councils across the country to feed into that level of monitoring. It is important when we look at the work that has been done by the Government that we look to the White Paper on enterprise and how it is being implemented. That will provide us with the pathway to lay out exactly what can be done.

My closing point is to stress that support is in place for businesses from the LEOs to Enterprise Ireland to government supports. Help is there for those who need it, but it is important that we all take that responsibility in this House and beyond to be the bridge between the Government and the businesses in our communities.