It is no exaggeration to say that smaller businesses are the lifeblood of the country. Micro, small and medium-sized enterprises provide employment for more than 1.2 million people. They are at the heart of every city and town, down to the smallest village. Every one of them supports employment in other enterprises which are their suppliers. Today, they are struggling. Their viability is threatened. Who in this House cannot list the names of a dozen or more enterprises in their constituencies that have closed in recent years because they just could not remain economically viable? Dozens more are struggling to keep their doors open in the hope that something will change to help them to survive. These are not just faceless businesses but enterprises at the very heart of our communities. Businesses like the local shop, hairdresser and café offer vital employment to hundreds of thousands of people, often in areas where there is no major source of employment and the nearest large employer is many miles away. These people are keeping our communities alive. They are keeping our little villages and towns vibrant, and not just a collection of buildings.

I have to acknowledge the supports the Government put in place during the Covid pandemic. Without that support, many businesses would not have survived. They need Government support again now. That is why I will expect the Minister's support on Wednesday, 14 February for a Private Members' motion tabled by Deputy Shanahan and my colleagues in the Regional Group for the establishment of a special task force, to include representatives of micro and small businesses and Government Departments and agencies, which will be asked to review all government-controlled charges, remove unnecessary red tape, reduce the cost of doing business and be involved in the drawing up of future Government policy impacting this sector. We will also seek immediate measures such as reducing the VAT rate for food businesses in the hospitality sector, adjusting the employers' PRSI higher rate threshold to reflect the increase in the national minimum wage and speeding up the work permit process. Will the Minister and the Government support and implement our Private Members' motion coming before the house on Wednesday, in which we will call on the Government to reduce VAT from 13.5% to 9% and to cut PRSI rates for struggling SMEs by Easter?

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I acknowledge that he had a Private Members' motion on this issue on the Order Paper this week. I understand it will now be taken next week. The Government will respond to that motion. I agree with the Deputy that SMEs are the lifeblood of towns, villages and communities. The Government values them. As the Deputy has acknowledged, the Government supported small businesses in particular to a great extent over the past number of years. We provided Government support through wage subsidy schemes of more than €10 billion to support wages in the private sector because it was the right thing to do. Approximately €1.5 billion of commercial rates were waived. A range of other support schemes, including restart schemes, were administered by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. We want to support viable businesses. Nobody wants to see any business close. It should be acknowledged that new businesses are opening all the time. In the most recent budget, we provided extensive support to our economy to help the customers of those businesses. Those supports included a cost-of-living package of around €2.7 billion, a full-year income tax package of €1.3 billion and a social welfare permanent package of more than €1 billion. That is more than €5 billion of measures to help to put money in the pockets of the customers of those businesses.

That said, we acknowledge that policy decisions made by the Government, which individually are all very good, have contributed to a challenging environment for many businesses. I refer in particular to the increase in the minimum wage, changes to sick pay and PRSI, and further planned changes for auto-enrolment and so on. The Government acknowledges that, which is why the Minister, Deputy Coveney, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Calleary and Richmond, have been doing work to assess the cumulative impact of changes in policy and other changes that have resulted in the cost base of businesses increasing significantly. My focus has been on making changes to the tax debt warehousing regime, which I announced at the beginning of this week, essentially eliminating interest on tax debt that has been warehoused. That will be of benefit to tens of thousands of businesses. Any business that has already paid interest on the warehoused tax debt will have it refunded by the Revenue Commissioners. The Revenue Commissioners have confirmed that they will be as flexible as possible in agreeing phased payment arrangements for the clearing of the tax debt over a period. The standard period is three to five years but they have the discretion to go beyond that in individual cases.

In addition, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is working with local authorities to finalise arrangements for the payment of the increased cost-of-doing-business grant. It is expected that businesses will be corresponded with in the next couple of weeks in regard to those arrangements.

I thank the Minister for his reply. The Regional Group met Adrian Cummins and Adam Hallissey of the Restaurants Association of Ireland yesterday. They outlined the serious crisis facing the hospitality sector. They told us that the 50% increase in the VAT rate from 9% to 13.5% has resulted in more than 300 businesses closing since it came into effect, with most of the remaining businesses having to absorb this VAT increase as they could not pass on the increased costs to their customers. Most restaurants operate at a 5% to 7% margin. The increased VAT has come on top of the minimum wage increase of 12.4%, sky-high energy costs, inflated food costs and upcoming pension auto-enrolment costs. We ask the Minister to split the VAT rate, which is the norm in many EU countries, and reduce it from 13.5% back to 9% for the restaurant sector in particular. This is what we in the Regional Group will look for in our Private Members' motion on Wednesday. If it does not happen, there will be further major closures in the hospitality sector in the months ahead.

We regret any closures. We do not want to see any viable business close down. It is important to recall the context of the reduction in the VAT rate. When it first happened, it was to stimulate demand by reducing prices to drive footfall into businesses. It was continued during Covid. It was also extended in the context of the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living pressures so many are facing. Some 14 of the 27 EU member states have a VAT rate on food services of 12% or higher. Ireland is eighth overall in that context. The main issues raised by many businesses with me are the availability of labour and the cost of doing business. We hear that message and are conscious of it.

I have no plans to change the VAT rate. If I were to propose to change one particular tax rate, I would immediately face calls, which are already being made, from retailers to change the standard rate of VAT. The vintners are looking for a reduction in excise. We would essentially be into another budget. That is not going to happen. We will work with our colleagues in the Department of enterprise on the administration of the grant scheme. The tax debt warehousing initiative has been announced. The Department is examining the combined effect. We will discuss that across government. I want to be clear in setting expectations so that businesses can plan. The Government has no plans to introduce a further budget this side of October.