Small and Medium Enterprises
Dail Éireann — 2025-11-13
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Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I thank Deputy Ward for this very important question. The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years arising from both the wider inflationary trends and Government-mandated changes in the form of improvements to working conditions across a range of areas. It is important to note that costs for firms, as measured through the CSO's wholesale price index, are declining and are down 2.6% in the 12 months to September 2025.
Most recently the Government has taken action to address business costs through the publication of the action plan on competitiveness and productivity and the convening of the cost of business advisory forum, which are both commitments in the programme for Government. The focus of the action plan is on actions that can be taken to strengthen Ireland’s competitiveness and productivity which, in turn, will lead to improvements in our economic performance. A core theme of the plan is regulating for growth and controlling costs, with 18 actions, including five priority actions, focused on addressing this issue. Key action areas include better regulation, which will decrease the regulatory burden for business, addressing Ireland’s high legal costs, and improving competition in our markets. The establishment of the cost of business advisory forum delivers on the commitment regarding supports for small business, enterprise and industries. The first meeting of the forum took place on 11 June with representatives in attendance from across Ireland’s enterprise sector, including SMEs, joined by officials from a variety of State agencies, regulators, and Government Departments. The forum is a tripartite collaboration bringing together a broad selection of representative bodies spanning multiple sectors as well as multinational corporations. The purpose is to jointly consider those issues that can lead to higher costs for businesses in Ireland, any associated regulatory or infrastructural issues that merit a changed approach and those steps that could be taken to mitigate these issues. The forum is scheduled to report to Government in the first quarter of 2026.
Budget 2026 has provided an overall package of €9.4 billion, with €8.1 billion provided for public spending and €1.3 billion for new taxation measures. The latter measures will benefit SMEs.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-11-13/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-13