Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. I am delighted to have the opportunity to formally congratulate her on her position. I do not know how she does all that she does in being an excellent public representative for the people of Cavan-Monaghan - constituency politics is demanding in itself - while also being able to take on a very challenging portfolio with such gusto and enthusiasm. She has totally embraced the three really important areas within her Department. I will mention each of those areas before we move on to the context of the motion.

Regarding the geopolitical situation in which we now find ourselves, with the emergence of US tariffs and possibly more in respect of pharma, etc., the whole area of trade promotion is so much more important than it ever was before in terms attracting new business and new markets. We know we have great products to sell here. The role of the Minister of State as an ambassador for Ireland’s excellent products is really important. I wish her well on that.

Artificial intelligence has been around for a long time but it has only been taken really seriously over the past few years. At the fourth summit of the Council of Europe - there have been only four summits in 75 years - it was agreed that artificial intelligence was one of the areas we needed to look at from an ethical point of view and with regard to human rights. While artificial intelligence can bring so much good and do so much more, we must have concerns about it being abused for disinformation, etc. The Council of Europe produced a convention protecting human rights in the context of artificial intelligence and 12 countries have signed up to that convention. It would be great to see Ireland being the next one to do so. It is a very interesting and exciting area. One must have an open mind, as I know Minister of State has, and look at it through a number of different lenses. The Minister of State is a creative soul. We will see lots of adventures relating to all of that.

With regard to digital transformation, bringing everybody along with us is so important, in terms of both the consumer, the person on the street, and those in business. We absolutely need change but we cannot forget those who could be left behind by digital transformation. For example, I was in a post office yesterday in Rathangan, County Kildare, speaking to the postmaster and Connie, who works there. During Covid, older people had to make an appointment by email. The post offices are doing a lot of that work for older people and it needs to be recognised. Post offices can be a hub for digital transformation for some of the individuals who do not feel comfortable and may not have a family member to do this work for them.It would be great to have a formal agreement with them.

In terms of the motion at hand, we know that small and medium enterprises represent more than 99% of our active enterprises and provide 70% of all the employment opportunities in the private sector. This is significant but, of course, they are not just business entities. In many ways they provide the heart and soul of communities, they are job creators, they are innovators, and they are neighbours of local development. They are the people who provide local sponsorship for all the local community clubs. They are the people who provide employment and who pay rates to all of our local authorities. They contribute billions of euro to our national economy. They provide many services that may not be written into their job spec or that they would have thought of.

It is very important that we do everything we can to help and support these businesses. This is why it is very good news that the dedicated small business unit opened last month. I thank the Minister of State for this because I know it is something she was very clear about in the programme for Government. It is something Fianna Fáil felt strongly about and she has taken up the mantle on this. The unit will focus on rigorously applying and implementing the SME test. This is very important because everything needs to be looked at through this lens.

We need a simplification of the information going from the Department to support our small local businesses. We need simplification of the access to grants also. From speaking to local businesses, and I know we all do so in the areas we represent, we know that sometimes they may receive notification only seven or 14 days before an application is due. We know this means time is taken away from doing work at the shop counter and front-facing work and that somebody else must be employed to do it. People have to take valuable time to attend chamber of commerce meetings or fill out forms. As legislators we need to be able to ensure we are not onerous in taking up that time.

There is no doubt SMEs are being stretched to their very limit in terms of the cost of doing business, the administrative burden and the regulatory overload. The unit should help but the cost of business advisory forum is also very important. It would be great to have updates in the House on the efficient running of both of these elements. We want to see real change. We want to see fewer forms. We want to make a difference, in terms of cutting the cost of business and the simplification of information and grants. Our business are struggling to survive. We want them to thrive. They make up who we are and who we represent. I thank the Minister of State for her time; I really appreciate it. I look forward to working with her on this.