Enterprise Support Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-13
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Rose Conway-Walsh (SF), Mayo

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.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-13