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

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on this matter in the House. It is always a pleasure to come back.

As the Senator will be aware, the increased cost of business scheme is worth €250 million. Not a single cent will be required from local authorities, or indeed the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, to administer it. The fund has been generated by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and will be allocated to 31 local authorities. We have decided to use the rates scheme as the most effective way to get a quick cash injection to businesses struggling with rising energy costs and the increased cost of doing business, whether it be the increase to the minimum wage, which the Senator and I both welcome and hope goes further in future, or other costs such as pension auto-enrolment and the fact we will on 1 January move from employees being entitled five rather than three days' paid sick leave. The latter is something the Senator called for and will look for us to go further on, which we will in due course.

This is a manner in which we are able to support 87% of businesses in the State, largely small and medium enterprises, SMEs, which are the businesses struggling the most. Large multinationals and large employers will not be eligible for this scheme; rather, it will be targeted at SMEs who paid rates under €20,000 last year. They will be able to get a payment of up to 50% of their rate in the first quarter of next year.

The scheme is being worked out by my Department and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. We have had a lot of good arrangements with it. It will be a straightforward transfer of funds that will not require arduous administration. No form-filling by businesses will be required. This will be a strict cash injection. Having spent the entirety of last year traipsing around the country meeting businesses and representative groups in shops and on factory floors, I recognise the serious costs.

I do not accept that this is exclusionary beyond the fact, about which we have been open, that we are targeting SMEs.We are targeting those smaller businesses that are most exposed to any increased costs in doing business, either as a cause of Government policy or wider global economic pressures. We have used the rates system. This is not a rates recalculation or rates rebate. We have used the system available to us to deliver the quickest and least administratively complicated system to get a fund in place for businesses as quickly as possible.

The budget only comes live on 1 January.

When we talk about longer term support, the most important support that any Government can give to any business is to create an economic environment that allows businesses to thrive. The Senator will recognise that we have one of the strongest economies in the European Union. As recession clouds gather across the Continent, we will consistently see job growth and new small and large businesses being set up. We will attract foreign direct investment and we will see an economy that is supporting and backing business. It is not always just the State's job to provide financial assistance to businesses. We recognise that smaller businesses have extreme costs that merit state intervention for SMEs. That is what we are doing with this fund. The policy of the Government and my party since we came in to office in 2011 with the Senator's party has been to get the economy up and running, which we have done. There have been 780,000 jobs created since 2011. The Senator's party played a proud part in that during very difficult years. That is, first and foremost, how we are going to support businesses during tough times. It is not always just about State contracts, although that area is always being looked at as well.