Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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154. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which a full evaluation has been done of the needs of small and medium enterprises with a view to offering the maximum support possible in order to combat the problem of rising costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45379/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Government is very aware of the economic challenge of escalating prices, in particular energy prices, and has put in place measures to assist businesses, including small and medium enterprises. I and my Department are working with Minister Ryan, the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, and across Government, to manage our response to the energy situation as it develops.

In June 2022, my Department undertook an analysis of sectoral energy consumption and each sector’s mix of energy types, in order to identify those sectors with a higher exposure to rising energy costs. This analysis did not examine exposure to energy costs on the basis of firm size, however I have engaged with representatives of smaller and medium sized businesses on rising energy costs through multiple fora to ensure that their views are raised in formation of our policy response.

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 8th of 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 were discussed with the business community include the:

- Labour Employer Economic Forum on the 7th of September which I attended along with the Taoiseach;

- SME and State Bodies Group on the 13th of July which I chaired with the Minister for Finance;

- Enterprise Forum which I chaired on the 29th of June;

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

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

My Department continues to engage with other Departments and Agencies to identify the scale and impact of energy price increases on firms, including small and medium enterprises. Measures are also being actively explored at a European level to tackle the costs of energy to business, while further actions are being considered for introduction under Budget 2023.