Small and Medium Enterprises
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Sinéad Gibney (SD), Dublin Rathdown

I appreciate the Minister of State's willingness to explore this issue. I would argue that there are two ways to tackle it. One is by looking at the retail costs of An Post and the other is by looking at the supports that the his Department can specifically offer. Small business owners who have contacted my office feel forgotten. Some are new, some have been in operation for decades but these businesses are not aiming to become big operations. They provide goods and services that people want. They provide employment and a huge benefit to their communities. A small business which employs people but never expands to become a franchise, a mid-cap or unicorn is still a public good, an economic good and an important part of Irish society and enterprise. All of the supports that the Department has for such businesses seem to lead back to a business model based on either making SMEs into big businesses or allowing them to struggle and fold.
Delivery cost is such a nuts and bolts basic issue. Every business needs to be able to deliver its products to its customers. Recent changes have impacted the ability of SMEs to do that and compete effectively in our economy. This is something the Department should be keen to help to tackle and find solutions for.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:40+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19