Mattie McGrath urges bigger Microfinance lending, criticises 'spin'

Good morning, I hope he gets down on George D and understands business and as Deputy Connan said it's not all about the capital city, it's not all about spin and it's not all about you know Facebook and all the rest of the images that he likes to and I did criticise earlier a 20 million increase in the spending would be appropriated here for the department of the Taoiseach and an awful lot has gone spin doctors to tell us what we know, we're not fools in the country, we can understand plain English, we didn't need the Taoiseach out there with his quotes from this writer and that writer and that actor and that person to tell us what we should do I mean it's just, it's patronising and insulting to the people of the country The Micro-Invertised Loan Fund Amendment Bill, the purpose of this bill is to create and increase the maximum amount of money used that the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation make grant to microfinance to extend the following powers of microfinance Ireland which is very welcome to increase the maximum aggregate amount of borrowing under the Act microfinance Ireland to amend the European Investment Fund Agreement Act 2018 to increase the maximum aggregate liability in respect of contributions committed by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and indeed the Minister for Agriculture is very important, Food and Marine is very important under all agreements introduced under the Act for the time being very important statements of finance and the Taoiseach did ask, could we give him ideas we can give him plenty of ideas, us, in the rural independence because we represent very rural counties and I want to wish you too well Minister in your new role and thank you for your engagement when you were Minister in the Department of Housing as I said, Microfinance Ireland, you know, in Dipperary we have been very successful with the Microfinance Ireland already and the loans granted for the following purposes working capital, which is vital to any small business start-ups especially fit-out of premises, very important also purchase of equipment, it's huge because the price of purchase of equipment now and the standard it has to be is pretty, you know, pretty severe and information and communication technology the teacher could be good at that, right that's the one thing he can talk about because that's what he loves promotion and marketing I suppose you could throw that one in as well to me he might be good at that although it didn't bring him the benefits he expected in the election applications from Dipperary and I want to talk about my own county Dipperary since 2012 accounts for amounts for 234 applicants with 105 of those being successful accounting for 1.29 million euro in the funding for Dipperary businesses Dipperary has the fifth highest number of successful applicants across the country behind Dublin, Cork, Mead, Jerome County Minister Galway Limerick so as a county I'm pleased and I'm proud of that and we have good support and good business acumen and good business interests of people in Dipperary small businesses micro businesses we're talking about here and the local enterprise office Microfinance Ireland's main referral partners at the local enterprise offices the LEOs not the Taoiseach that has gone out the LEOs and the local authorities with an approval of 51% for applicants coming from the LEOs the LEOs are a support microfinance Ireland applicants with their application relevant business training both pre post and it's very important the post as well and mentoring and assistance Dipperary enterprise office I want to pay huge tribute fulltome tribute to Mr. Anthony Fitzgerald Ms. Ita Horne Michael Begley Mary Ryan and the entire team at the Tipperary local enterprise office for the fantastic work that they are doing to supporting businesses the support is essential now more than ever and we as we face a very difficult period as I said a very uncertain future and increased support from microfinance Ireland is very important the enterprise office is essential to help our businesses and they are standing ready and they are dealing with numerous phone calls so the staff drop and existing businesses as I said 2,403 loan approved and 1,304 were staff drop businesses that's very important we must nurture those and support them not to the curl of the caela tos agh ma lana heber goklow while I support staff drops it's very important it is hugely important that an existing business have strong supports in the recovery from this very difficult period and I come on to this here and Minister I addressed it earlier in the estimates where the where the and all his team at Neffert and everything else but the Taoiseach mainly went on a huge spin machine about offering the holiday and the rates and offering the parking of the rates but now my county and every other county well I'm sure the same tell me that they have to they are compelled to send out the mighty demand for rates for July onwards and the holiday is you shouldn't call it a holiday that's the acronym you put on it there's no clarification from the government not a penny not a red shilling and a red sin minister has gone to the coffers of the Braille County Council to offset that so there's there's a typical example of spin and more spin and more spin Minister the huge issue was standing charges and if you don't tackle this it was growing there it's like that but you won't because you have 102 new commissions and reports and bodies set up in this program for government you love it you love these crankers because they're jobs for the boys and girls and they'll kick the can down the road if you don't deal with increasing and ever increasing charges that have been forced at customers literally I shouldn't say forced them but they've been robbed from customers because you're signed up to them and you can't stop them and that's the word robbed imagine I have a hotel in Tipperary and they're paying £30,000 now in standing charge and the hotel closed they aren't that all they're on is the reception lights and they're still paying and these charges and we have regulators for this that and the other as I said countless times they're both useless toothless and fruitless those regulators jobs for the boys that they can take that kind of money out of people standing orders and no operations so we're forcing the people to close but you must pay all these and I call them cowboys because they give you no services I mean when they're utility companies but you're at their beck and call they can charge what they like you don't pay up they switch you off and they charge that insurance it's been referred to by previous deputies it's a scandal the way the insurance are regarding people now and this is the teacher was part guilty for this stuff because earlier in the meetings that we had in government buildings this crisis that will now arose I tell the teacher about the blank refusal of insurance companies to pay up or to even engage with their customers about supports for lack of business to close down because of this arrival of the so-called pandemic that we have at Ancona so-called business the teachers that insurance are in the business are making money and they operate on the basis of payout 1 in 10 they couldn't pay out like it is they've had enough of good years they're making millions of profit from the Irish people sweating blood and they must be held accountable the lack of finance and banks in this minister the banks are doing that the doors might be open in some of them but they're not functioning and I have people ringing me from all over the country but certainly from the Burberry who had loan approvals who had mortgage we're talking about kick-starting the housing industry loans mortgage has got to build her houses who have incomes I have one case where the couple are the lady partner is the mother of the two kids is a civil servant she wasn't affected thankfully she walked through it all and her husband is a farmer turn over now they won't give him the loan to build the house that is pure blackguarding because they're closed effectively closed someone said it earlier I think it was Deputy Shanahan we had a bailout for the banks it's now time we bailed out the people who bailed out the banks and their children and grandchildren will be bailing out the banks for decades to come the lack of finance and the local authorities I told you they're piddlest they're strapped because they have the wage holiday they can't collect it but now they have no one to back them up they expected they get the money from the government but not a penny I mean Minister we have to get the whole arts area and the industry the whole arts and take it from the Irish music the country music the people that do the sound engineers and the promoters that's all stopped suddenly they must be supported they're a wonderful source of entertainment and solace to people to go out and listen to the the ceilidh to the country music dance to the I used to write a message which is a big Tom always but you know the four country roads and they operate on all the four country roads they've been pulled from under them they have huge equipment costs huge insurance costs huge van and transport costs Minister as I said also the whole area of the man with the van that's on the road salesman he doesn't pay rates so he's getting no support can't even apply for the support the taxis I have to have the deputy white baron to hack these the creches the small community creches the private creches the private people that are trying to run them all the shopkeepers the pubs are being bagarded just because again again the holding it wasn't holding sorry I wouldn't use that word but the distasteful carry-on the other night here in Dublin in Dame Street we have respectable public since the vast majority in Tipperary they were trying to be closed down by the last government which you supported and they want to be able to open now they might be punished according to our new Taoiseach who actually drives to the country to come to Dublin so he should know a bit more about it and he says he might allow them to open now on the 20th July because of the behaviour of Dublin we're suffering in Ireland because of Dublin all the time we get the crumbs and we get nothing only the problems when you want to you know send down people that we don't want or something like that or legislation that's just introduced and you leave us no impact analysis of anything so look we don't want that kind of like adding I can give you granted as Deputy Collins can the vast majority of publicans in Tipperary and Westcork and everybody says we'll run our publicans right and I want to say I'm delighted to see that the bar was open and see them for food and thank the staff here as well for the way they have managed the orderly you know of us moving around and being careful but we don't want to be punished because people went in Dublin here we don't want to be punished you know we've seen the different parties that are here we've seen the different Black Lives Matter or other matters that they give two fingers to all health advice they can get away what they like this new liberal brand of neoliberalism they can do what they like and the hell of it let crappies lie down it's their attitude now they're in charge they can do what they want so we need to increase the proportion of IDA supports given into the region we'll get nothing in Tipperary now we have some very good foreign direct investment that they have with 50 years Merck Shoppe with Boston and Abbott and those and they're delighted to have them in Plannmel and want to support the regime but we need to deliver more resources to the country because you've seen it in Tipperary if it ties take over the microfinance grant aid of funding not grant aid since 2012 we're willing to do it all we want is uncheck it take off the baggage take off the red tape we need schemes that are operating but we need cash flow right now you're not going to leave to the banks because you've failed spectacularly in them in the last nine years because you're in Hock to them I don't know what it is you're phased by them you're just intimidated by them they won't lend and they'll give you two fingers to everybody else and we also need to get more support into Pais Ireland and indeed into the Leos in Tipperary so when it's up there are too many people out there small business they will recover big business you know come and go the small business are the backbone of any village town in our county right from the Catholic insurer up to Clown Mel Cair and Castle Tipperary Nina Tullis up to Money Goal they're the business people they didn't play three and four and five they sit up sleepless nights trying to ensure that they have to meet their needs and all and I'd better I suppose finish I'll let you have time to answer some of the questions that Deputy Conlon's had if you can please Minister sorry thank God you'll allow me three more minutes so come on it's okay I'm going to ask look I think Deputy Conlon was misinformed in that and maybe my office was to blame for that so look I'm sorry about that look we learn something every day and Minister you're from a rural county you know what's needed not the red tape and the law of Moore you know around money and finance the banks are closed you might as well forget about it they're not going to look after anyone so it's up to the government what they can deliver directly and don't let the greasy paws of the bankers get on it and charge interest for people to try and assess be forced to get the money from the banks I read I have it here in my hand bank statements I read today with nothing going on in my bank and I just have brought him in by accident and I was looking through him earlier today standing charges for this standing charges for that direct debit charges and scandalous the amount of charges how can any ordinary businessman and they're getting away with it and with regulators where are they what are they doing they're not there they shouldn't be paid so we need to deregulate a lot of these and get rid of these but this programme for government has 102 new bodies to be set up actions to be taken quangos you name it citizens assemblies review boards it's the merry-go-round that is crippling this country and quite frankly minister the people of rural Ireland the people of Tipperary and you know too are sick and tired of you saw that in the election they're just sick of it red tape and they're sick of the spin and promises of but live horses they'll get grass but all the horses are nearly gone and the people that walk their horses are dead so it's time that reality was brought home to the quangos here and to the civil and senior public servants that if the hands around to handle the bars of power here were taken off it with force if necessary and let the people that want to work work let the taxis back to work support them don't stifle them and you know what I mean and I want to thank first of all all the businesses the barbers and thank you for letting the barbers open lately that shut and obeyed the rules I have no time for the people who flouted the laws during the election they were a minority but they did it and black market was thriving but the people that used that are worse but I have a great admiration for the for the for the ordinary small business now that needs to get off the ground and pick themselves up facing huge costs huge costs like the 20 page 22 page document that came out by board there was no fault about how the pub should operate but fault of our tourist organisation I know it's very important tourism is very important but why they got the job at the round of but they're just handy and came in at the moment just to be handy practical things we want practical support and the people of Ireland will be careful and will behave respectively but they want to be treated with respect and treated with support and let the publicans let the undertakers let the butchers let the barbers let the small bus owners and the taxis and the hackneys and the small farmers and the fords and all those people let them all out and they will do their business without over regulation and overreach and one size fits all is not suitable and I'm shocked that the teacher today would threaten or at least he made a statement that the pubs now might all be threatened to reopening because of the behaviour here in central Dublin where you might pay twice the price for the beverages as you would down the country and you know and you wouldn't get half the pest on service and I like to have a beverage in some places in Dublin as well I'm not knocking that but I'm knocking the behaviour and we have to be punished for it in gore maak gore maak