Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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53. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the engagement that he has had with energy providers and representative groups of small businesses in relation to the increased cost of energy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45075/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Officials from my Department, Ministers of State and I engage with the business community almost on a daily basis. The cost of doing business and in particular the impact of rising energy costs on businesses have featured very prominently in recent weeks.

My Department is taking a leading role in the Government response to this, working closely with the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, who coordinate the whole of Government response via the Energy Supply Emergency Group on which my Department is represented. In particular, my Department convenes the Business Energy Users Sub-group which was set up to assess the impacts of rising energy costs on businesses and to help inform the Government response. This includes business representative groups, as well as officials from my Department and the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications, Enterprise Ireland, and IDA Ireland. The group has met on three occasions to date and most recently met on the 8^thof September to update members on the response so far and hear views of members.

Other fora where the cost of doing business and energy costs in particular have been discussed with the business community include:

the Labour Employer Economic Forum on the 7^thof September which I attended along with the Taoiseach;

the SME and State Bodies Group on the 13^thof July which I chaired with the Minister for Finance;

the Enterprise Forum which I chaired on the 29^thof June;

the Retail Forum chaired by Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English on the 8^thof June; and

the Hospitality and Tourism Forum chaired by myself and Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin TD on the 12^thof September.

This engagement with the business community will continue to inform the Government’s response to these important issues.