First, for my last contribution and much like Deputy Bruton, I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his great work. I thank Mr. Peter Finnegan and all the team for looking after us as Deputies and Ministers from all sides of the House and always in a very balanced way. No matter what level of service you look for in this House and no matter what angle it is, we are all treated equally which is the way it should be and again, part of the service we provide to our communities is enhanced by all the team here and the many levels as well. In particular, I think the Ceann Comhairle has many times, certainly when I held the housing brief, had to sit here night after night and listen to many of us repeat the same thing over again from both sides of the House, probably for a couple of years. Finally and thankfully, all those debates led to many positive changes in housing. This is only work in progress and we will build on it. Sometimes having to listen for hours and hours here does pay off for all us. I thank the Ceann Comhairle for his patience and courtesy to us all.
I wish to raise two issues with the Tánaiste. Deputy Smith very clearly went through the categories of small businesses we have been trying to reach with supports from the schemes and I want to add to that. Every effort has been made by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment under the Minister, Deputy Burke, and Ministers of State, Deputies Calleary and Higgins, in trying to reach the businesses that need support. There were different analyses and reports done to feed into trying to choose the categories that need it but we have missed a couple of key categories. Deputy Smith outlined where the opportunity to categorise yourself might have been missed in the summer. Certainly, as we approach trying to reach businesses with supports, this scheme closes tomorrow for applications and it would be great to be able to extend it for a week or two to give some businesses a chance to reorganise that. We have to look at where we are with our SME community, however, not just with this scheme but going forward for any Government.
Over the past three or four Governments, certainly the Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Green Parties in this Government, have really reached out and tried to help small businesses at key times of crisis, be it covid, Brexit or the war in Ukraine. There were major interventions that were well received by business owners and that protected many thousands of jobs. I have no doubt about that but we are still going through a new phase. We have brought in many changes to labour laws, sick pay and many other areas that everybody agrees were right. There is no doubt about that. They were all right and nobody would take them back but we have to recognise it makes it difficult for small businesses we are all used to and that are a key part of our communities, be that the corner shop, the play and leisure sector, the tourism sector, the small coffee shop or restaurant. I am singling out small businesses because it is harder for them to absorb all these costs that will probably be there forever. These changes are there to protect workers and to give them greater rights. They absolutely need them but we must recognise that if we want these smaller businesses that do not have large HR departments or cannot afford to carry all those extra costs, we need to find new ways to permanently support that sector if we want it to remain in the way we are used to.
We talk about rural Ireland and our communities where there are massive opportunities right throughout the country because this country is being run extremely well. We need to bear in mind, however, that we also want to hang on to those businesses and jobs we have always had because they are very often the first jobs all of us had as young people growing up. We need to find a category. There is no lack of desire to help them, I want to be clear on that. The political will is there but it is about being able to find a way that singles out these categories that need protection so we can then reach them with permanent supports and schemes going forward. I want to flag it now. There is a chance with this scheme but more generally, we need to bear in mind there are categories of businesses that need a different kind of permanent intervention if we are to protect them and keep them there for years to come.
Again, I thank the people of Meath West and Meath who have supported me in votes and many other ways since 2002 and before that in the local authority and parts of Westmeath on occasion as well. I thank everybody for their support. It was a pleasure and an honour to represent them here.
