Businesses in great towns like Killarney and Killorglin are suffering a great deal at present as a result of the increase in the minimum wage and high energy costs. Why anyone would think that this is a good time to re-rate buildings, I will never understand. The rates on some premises have doubled. The input costs are so enormous that business owners are literally closing their doors. Many of these businesses are in prime locations on Main Street, College Street and New Street in Killarney. Cafes and restaurants in Killarney and Killorglin are closing. I compliment the Government on one thing. Many of the businesses in question would not have survived until now were it not for what the Government did during the pandemic. I thank it for that. The Government kept the doors of those businesses open. I ask that the Government do what it did previously, namely, stand up for small businesses and for the people who are creating jobs for themselves and others. I beg the Government to do all it can to allow these people to keep their doors open.

I thank the Deputy very much. I take the opportunity to again acknowledge that the cost of business in Ireland is very high and is rising. That is due to a number of factors, namely, higher labour costs, the energy crisis, the costs of supplies and materials and the withdrawal of temporary Government supports. The latter have to be withdrawn at some point and cannot go on forever. Businesses are closing, but others are also opening. The closure rate, at about 50 per 10,000, is around the long-term average. We have to monitor this very closely, particularly to see whether employment levels may fall in any sector. That would be a very serious alarm bell.

Notwithstanding that, we are going to help. Businesses will receive €250 million in grants between now and the end of March. That will help significantly with cashflow. We are going to make some changes to tax warehousing in order to give businesses more time to pay their taxes, but they do have to pay those taxes. Energy prices are coming down. Hopefully, interest rates will fall throughout the course of the year. We do need to very closely monitor developments because there are additional costs coming the way of businesses in the context of additional leave, pension contributions and further increases in the minimum wage. We have to do all of that at a pace that is affordable for everyone.