2026-01-13

108. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the steps he is taking to support small and medium enterprises facing rising costs of doing business, including energy, insurance and regulatory costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64579/25]

SMEs and self-employed individuals are being crippled by the cost of doing business in Ireland in 2026. The Government is ignoring their pleas for help and rejecting every Sinn Féin proposal to alleviate their situation from our motion to tackle insurance costs to our motion to bring energy costs. I ask the Minister to outline the concrete steps his Department is taking to support these businesses struggling with the cost of doing business.

I thank the Deputy for her question. The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years, in particular, on foot of external inflationary pressures. It should also be acknowledged that the Government has been proactive in tackling the issue of rising costs and is pleased to note that the costs for firms, as measured through the CSO's wholesale price index, are declining. The latter are down 5.3% in the 12 months to November 2025. In addition, the Government has provided significant financial support to the SME sector through the increased cost of business, ICOB, scheme and the power up scheme. Over recent years, in excess of €400 million has been distributed nationwide. This includes the €244 million under ICOB which was provided to more than 75,000 businesses. A second round of ICOB payments was targeted specifically in retail, hospitality and beauty sectors. The successor to ICOB, the power up grant, was aimed at these same sectors at a total cost of €159 million. My Department has taken action to address fiscal and regulatory issues, including the establishment of the Cost of Business Advisory Forum in June 2025, and the accelerated publication of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity in September 2025. Both of these actions deliver on the programme for Government commitments to our small business, enterprise and industries and to develop Government policy which focuses on the economic areas that fall within our domestic sphere of influence. The Cost of Business Advisory Forum's purpose is to critically examine issues that can lead to higher costs for business in Ireland and review associated regulatory and infrastructural issues that merit a changed approach. At present, there are 25 member organisations, representing a broad section of Ireland's enterprise sector, including SMEs, that regularly contribute to the work of the forum, alongside active engagement and dialogue with a variety of State agencies, regulators and Departments. Forum members adopted a comprehensive thematic work plan in June 2025 and since then have met a considerable number of times. Areas, such as energy and security of supply, increased insurance costs, planning and infrastructural delivery and water services form part of their deliberations.

How come the business owners I speak to every day of the week are struggling so much if the Minister is saying that so much is being done for them, as measured through the CSO's wholesale price index? That is not the reality on the ground. It is certainly not the reality in the businesses that I see every day. The SMEs are the backbone of employment in towns and villages right across this State. They keep main streets alive. They sponsor local teams, provide apprenticeships and take chances on new staff. Too many of them are telling me the very same thing, which is that they are working harder for less. The SMEs need Government intervention that matches the scale of the problem. That could be it, that the scale of the problem is not recognised. Over the past year, the Government has talked a lot about supports but what SMEs have experienced is delay, piecemeal measures and a refusal to tackle the big drivers of cost. The signs are there. In 2025, a total of 848 insolvencies were recorded. That is hundreds of businesses that did not make it through the year.

We are doing a number of things that will continue to bring viability into businesses. Each of them, on its own, has been opposed by Sinn Féin. First, we have reassessed the trajectory to a living wage, which has been pointed out by firms as a huge cost for viability. Second, we have put a halt to an extension of sick day numbers. Third, we have increased viability through a host of sustainability grants. Our energy efficiency grant, which is a 75% rebate, can take €1,200 per month off the utility costs of firms. We have established a small business unit within the Department to respond to pressures on the SMEs. All 13 sectors of the economy are growing. That is what the CSO said in its report in December. It showed that wages are at €1,000 gross per week, which is a 45% increase since 2015. All sectors are growing. Jobs are being created. Every day over 60 jobs are being created in this economy and we are working to reduce costs further through our Cost of Business Advisory Forum.

Then how come there are 848 insolvencies? That does not add up in terms of the supports for small business. I recognise that there are increased costs in wages but we cannot have a situation where workers are subsidising businesses. That is why the proposal for a PRSI rebate was put forward in our pre-budget submission to mitigate those costs, but the Minister did not take that up. Behind every insolvency is a livelihood and a community hit. On energy, Ireland is simply not competitive. Eurostat data shows that Ireland had among the highest electricity prices in the EU for non-household consumers in 2025. That is devastating for cafés, shops, small manufacturers and tourism businesses trying to plan month to month. On the insurance, the rip-off continues. Premiums remain stubbornly high. SMEs are being hammered by public and employer liability costs. Overall, Ireland ranks among the top countries in the world for insurance premiums per capita, which tells us something about how expensive the overall system is.

I want to come back to the Deputy with evidence and factual data. For every company that goes into liquidation in the economy now, ten more are created. We are at an all-time low in terms of insolvency levels. The CSO data, which is the gold standard of collecting evidence in this economy, backs that up. The Deputy should have a look at the December outturn and the summary of our economic position. All 13 sectors of the economy are growing. We are at a record level of employment. Some 2.82 million people are going to work this week in the economy. The Deputy has seen the increase in wages, which is not driving essentially a low-cost economy. We have good well-paid jobs in the economy. As I said, there has been a 45% increase in the weekly wage since 2015. We want to bring more high-value jobs into the economy. Look at the data – Irish-born firms have had a record year of €36 billion of exports. It never happened before. It broke all records for Enterprise Ireland. The economy is performing strongly. There are challenges and costs are high, but we are doing our very best to address those on foot of the cost of business advisory forum and our small business unit. We are working night and day to try to bring in further sustainability grants to help them over the long term.