Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)

I welcome today's Fianna Fáil motion. It is a very topical one. It is very important given the current climate we face in this country and the challenges we face in the international environment. As Senator Crowe said, Irish SMEs face many challenges. I am involved in SMEs myself. We should be supporting Irish industry and not just putting all of our focus on multinational companies, which seems to have been the case up to now.

It has already been mentioned that approximately two thirds - more than 60% - of all jobs in Ireland are within SMEs. That is a sizeable number of jobs. Over the past number of years I know that in my own businesses we faced many challenges. There was the likes of Brexit. I have a transport company and we had to create a whole new department to deal with customs whereas that had not been the case up to then. Then there was the Covid situation and the climate situation and all of this leads to huge administrative burdens on SMEs. We have spoken on many occasions in this House about tariffs and the threat and uncertainty they pose. That represents another significant burden on SMEs.

It is not just the increased cost of products but also the increased administrative burden on SMEs. It has been disappointing to see that many of Ireland's most successful companies were started abroad.I often think of Stripe, an amazing company started by the Collison brothers in Limerick. They felt they needed to go abroad to Silicon Valley in order to get start-up capital and they were certainly celebrated there. Now they have one of the biggest start-up companies over there and currently employ more than 8,500 people worldwide, 600 of whom are in Ireland. The situation has not got any better since that, and we have fewer supports for start-up businesses, despite reduced banking options after Ulster Bank exited the market.

How do we change this? We have a lot of ingredients. Recent figures were published about the number of graduates in Ireland. I think more than 52% of people have a basic degree, which is phenomenal. We have a highly educated workforce. We need to foster an entrepreneurial spirit within the workplace and our society and increase access to research and development funding. We also need incentives to help to staff businesses such as the ones I have mentioned with increased access to credit. I work regularly with the Naas LEO. There are fantastic initiatives there. The likes of those need to be celebrated and we need to support them.

I am proposing amendment No. 1, which has been seconded by Senator Keogan. I will also second another amendment by Senator O'Reilly. After the last paragraph in the motion, it calls on the Government to "apply the SME test outlined [and mentioned] in the Programme for Government to relevant [organisations] and give special consideration to the role of the Seanad [this House] in applying [that very] test." The amendment is based on what is in the programme for Government, which states that the Government will:

Rigorously implement the SME test to scrutinise every new piece of legislation and regulation for its impact on SMEs, ensuring that any obligations that increase business costs are phased in and that there is consideration of the broader implications of any decisions affecting businesses across government.

We know that this test, as has been mentioned, is designed to ensure the policies and regulations we are proposing are SME-friendly. It embodies the "think small" first principle. It really considers the SMEs from the very beginning of the policymaking process.

We should make Ireland the best country to do business in. I know we have done really well over the years with our corporate tax, etc., and we shine bright, but we could become the best small country to do business in for SMEs. It could create more Irish companies and more opportunity for our young people. The foundation should now be set for the next Collison brothers, who are possibly finishing school this summer somewhere in Ireland. They need to be given the correct supports to start the next Stripe in Ireland.