Aisling Dolan (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It is true that we need to examine supports for our businesses; it is absolutely crucial. The Minister for enterprise, Deputy Peter Burke, has introduced the national enterprise portal. I want to highlight what local enterprise offices, LEOs, do across the country. I know the LEOs are expanding their remit to support businesses, particularly in the retail and hospitality sector. We have seen funds come through the LEOs, particularly the energy efficiency grants. We see there are now free applications for businesses in retail and hospitality across all sectors to apply for the green for business initiative. As part of that, there are recommendations that come from an expert who comes out to visit a business, which can then apply for the energy efficiency grant. That has been increased from €5,000 to €10,000.

There are also other supports due to issue to businesses which includes microbusinesses, that is, businesses with fewer than ten employees. We see there are challenging circumstances. We know the pressures, and the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Paschal Donohoe, acknowledged the increase in inflation in his budget speech and this has happened over the past four or five years. Fine Gael in government is looking at how we ensure there are supports in place for businesses to tackle these rising costs we see ahead of us.