Marian Harkin demands big, fast SME aid and Sligo reassurance

First of all, can I congratulate the new Minister on his appointment and wish him well. It's unusual, in fact, Minister, to congratulate somebody on what could be seen as a demotion. But nonetheless, we wish you well because if you do a good job, then that's good for the country. So, first of all, can I say that I will vote for the estimates today. But, Minister, you know that I've spoken across the floor with you on many occasions about the huge challenges that our SME sector are facing. According to IBEC, the average debt for SMEs due to the COVID crisis is around €50,000. That's a huge sum of money. It's done significant damage to their balance sheets. And I think everybody agrees that more government support is needed. I remember, I think, the last time I spoke to you in Dáil Eireann, I spoke to you about what Germany had put in place, the £50 billion fund, and you asked me to send you information, which I did. That has now increased to £130 billion. And a significant amount of that is granted. For example, companies with less than one to five people are getting a straight down payment of €10,000. And if you have up to 10 people, €15,000. And that's to cover fixed costs. The same is happening or similar in the UK and Northern Ireland. Just a couple of kilometres from where I live across the border, the average grant aid to companies is around €10,000. And it's higher if they're in retail or leisure. So we need to be ambitious. We need to look at the real needs of SMEs. Because many of them are looking around and they're thinking, am I going to open up? Will that mountain of debt, as I call it, that has been building up over the last few weeks and months, will they look at that and say, when am I going to be able to pay this back? I'm not going to be in a position where I'm making profit for a period of time. So unless the state is willing to step in, many of those businesses will seriously reconsider whether they will open again or not. And I don't need to tell you, in your position, of the hugely negative implications for that. And that's what I've said from day one. Businesses need hope. They need to believe that in three and in six months' time, they have an opportunity even to break even, even just to keep going. Because that's what drives many businesses, many entrepreneurs. They will keep going if they can see a future. So we look forward to the July stimulus. And I would ask you, Minister, to look at two things. Look at scale and speed. It needs to be large enough to make a difference. And we need to efficiently and effectively get that money to SMEs. Two brief comments before I finish talking about giving hope. I remember when you came to Sligo and launched your 2040 plan. And on that day, you designated Sligo as a growth centre. Now, I look very carefully at the regional development part of the program for government. And what it says is this. We'll develop the cities of Cork, Limerick, Waterford and Galway as viable alternatives to Dublin. And we will help regional towns prosper. If we knew in the northwest that your commitment to Sligo as a growth centre was still there, that would give people hope. And finally, Minister, a comment. This is not your area. But when there's an emergency in a constituency, it's really important to the people there. There's been a huge mudslide, bogslide off Shaftes Mountain outside Drumcairn in County Leitrim. People who've been there and have spoken to many have described it like something you'd see in a movie. You just couldn't believe it was happening in front of your eyes. It will fault the County Council initially to deal with this. But County Councils have no revenue stream. Their money is cut off. So I am asking that the government itself would look at this emergency situation. It needs to be looked at right now and structures need to be put in place to try to alleviate this huge damage that has been caused. And with any further rainfall will continue. So, Minister, I just want to raise that to you. And perhaps you might reply to me in writing about the hugely important issue of Sligo as a growth centre. Thank you, Mr. Sligo. Just on Sligo. I just want to reassure the Deputy and indeed Deputy Fian and everyone in Sligo that it remains government policy that Sligo should develop as a major urban centre for the Northwest. Project Ireland 2040 is alive and well and will continue to be implemented. So the fact that there's no specific mention of that in the program for government doesn't mean that the policy has changed. And it's something that I'm very committed to personally. So I want to reassure the Deputy about that. I hadn't heard about the mudslide. I apologise. Perhaps it happened only today or yesterday. But as is always the case when a disaster happens like that, government will want to help and assist. And I have no doubt that I and my colleagues will take an interest in it and see what we can do. Thank you. Thank you.