Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)

I support this motion. My colleague, Senator Nelson Murray, has been an advocate of SMEs and rural business, as have I, since we entered the Chamber in February. I was a third-generation retailer in Roscommon. I know the effort and industry our small businesses put into everything they do. It is not just about the bottom line. Rather, it is about being part of the community. It is part of their drive. Small businesses embrace the essence of what being Irish means and what community and rural life are all about.

I welcome a lot of the supports put in place for businesses in recent times. The energy supports were timely and necessary for rural businesses. I remember getting the first bill in after the energy prices went up and seeing that it was a multiple of what previous bills had been. Always and ever, it was never about what you were talking home at the end of the week, rather about covering the staff and being able to pay suppliers at the end of the week, as opposed to anything else. Small businesses owners still got up on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings to put in 12- or 14-hour days. In most cases, it was more hours than that. Having the Government back small businesses with those supports was timely.

I had a meeting with a lady last Friday who is looking to set up a new business in north-west Roscommon. She explained to me that she had an idea for which she knew there was demand and wanted to know how she could go about staring this business. First and foremost, I was able to point her in the direction of the Roscommon local enterprise office. I explained to her that if she is seeking finance or anything like that, it will help her to put together a business plan to take to her bank. It will also be in a position to help to set her business up online. There are supports for all that. We need to be proud of the fact those supports are there. She also gave me a few jobs which I must go off and do to see if I can get some supports for her. First, she needs premises. Second, if she gets set up, she needs to see whether there is public access to opportunity for her as well. She will meet a demand that is not currently being served.

This brings me back to another conversation I had with a gentleman upstairs earlier. He is from north Longford. He is not a Senator; just to put that on the record. He said the problem we have in rural Ireland is that businesses are closing and leaving our communities because you could not pay someone to provide those services which have been provided for so long in these rural communities. We need to come up with mechanisms to support them. That is why I welcome the enterprise hub that has been created on the Department’s website. Having a space where I can go to try to find the potential different supports I am looking for at a given time is great. It is great to have them all in one spot. I am surprised no one came up with that idea before this term. It is good to see that we are listening to the feedback from businesses and actually getting out there to support them.

Since I have joined the Seanad, I have been lucky enough to travel around County Roscommon to see some of the new businesses and opportunities open and develop. I was in Ballaghaderreen recently where a new training centre has been set up to supply trainees to the engineering sector. There are multiple businesses in the locality that will avail of this centre. These are all important interventions.

Approximately two weeks ago, I spoke in this Chamber about an apprenticeship centre in Roscommon. I was told that the demand was not there for what I was looking for at that particular time. We have spoken about the warmer homes scheme and future need. We do not even know the jobs that have been created yet. We need to provide the outlet for these apprenticeships and for the roles our policies will create in two or three years’ time. We need to be a lot more proactive in this space in trying to encourage those roles.

I will attend the enterprise hub in Castlerea this Friday for the official opening of a new bespoke ice cream business which has been up and running for the past three months. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is coming down to cut the ribbon. For anyone wanting some ice cream, they may make sure they get their speech in early.

During the Order of Business this morning, I also spoke about a microbrewery in Ballinlough whose owner has called time on his business after 12 years in existence. This microbrewery was the only one in the country using local yeast to make its craft beer. He is closing because our licensing laws prevent him from tapping into the tourist potential of his brewery in Ballinlough in west Roscommon. He is in a situation where he cannot sell his beer in the petrol situation right beside his brewery, but it can sell bottles of wine from Argentina or Chile for €7.99. He cannot sell his beer to a visitor without it prohibitively costing him a lot for a licence. We need to protect and look at supporting these rural businesses. We must be creative with some of these ideas. The potential is out there to help them to thrive an awful lot more.