Danny Healy-Rae: Employers, Workers and the Cost Crisis
Danny Healy-Rae addressed Sinn Féin members about the mounting pressures on employers and workers caused by rising costs, taxes, planning delays and the ongoing oil crisis. He urged Ministers to act urgently on tax relief, green diesel, insurance and the delays that block new businesses and construction.
Opening remarks: Healy-Rae thanked Sinn Féin for the opportunity to speak and set out his experience from decades in the private sector. He recalled family-run business realities and long-serving staff to underline how vital stable employers are to local employment.
Rising costs and tax pressure: He warned that the cost of living and energy, especially oil, is eroding workers' incomes and employer viability. He criticised the limited relief in this year’s budget and called for faster policy responses to ease tax burdens on workers and small businesses.
Regulation, planning and start-up barriers: He highlighted planning delays, regulatory complexity, insurance costs and expensive service connections as major obstacles to new enterprises. He warned these burdens discourage entrepreneurship and slow construction, reducing the number of jobs created.
Care sector and construction impact: Healy-Rae stressed the immediate effects on carers, home helps and construction workers, noting that higher green diesel prices and operating costs threaten service provision and housing supply. He argued that if employers cannot operate profitably, they cannot retain or hire quality workers.
Direct request to Ministers: The speech concluded with an urgent plea to government ministers to address tax, connection costs, planning delays, insurance and green diesel pricing to protect jobs, support carers and keep people in their communities.
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First of all, I want to thank Sinn Féin for giving us the opportunity to talk about a very important subject here tonight. First of all, I recognise the great work that employers, employees do and carry out in their duties in so many workforces that I know. And indeed, when you talk about employees, you have to talk about employers as well, because, you know, they're both in it together. And if the employer can't carry on, he won't have the employees. And from my knowledge of being working in the private sector for many, many years, and my son is carrying on the business now, we have workers that have stayed with us for almost 40 years. And we depend on them. And if we don't treat them right, if they haven't paid right, or if they haven't seen after right, they won't stay with you. It's the same across the board. And I suppose I do recognise that today, employees, you know, they feel like maybe they're not making ends meet in many cases, but the cost of things with the way the costs of everything that has gone up and not least the oil situation that is still hurting people. And then the tax, there was little done for workers in the way of helping with that tax in the budget of this year's budget. And that needs to be dealt with sooner rather than later. And workers, it's so hard to get trained. Good workers now are machine operators, lorry drivers, bus drivers, whatever it is. There's so much rules and regulations. And we read in last weekend's papers that Ireland has the least entrepreneurs in Europe. I mean, we need to look at that, Minister, and see how that can be changed. Because they're saying the cause of it is it takes so long to get planning. The regulations are and all the things that go with it, insurance and everything, it takes too long to get off the ground. And the burden that's placed upon their shoulders then because, as we're talking here inside tonight, we're saying that workers must be seen after. And they are the kernel of the thing. They have to be seen after, they have to be paid properly, or you won't have them as an employer if you don't see after them properly. So, again, I say to you, you have to do something about the tax situation because all costs of living are going to open every sphere and the tax will have to be dealt with. And the regulations, to get services, imagine, to get connected to the services, to get connection to the electricity, you could be told any amount of months to get the water connection and the exorbitant cost of those connections. It's taking so long for employers, would-be employers to get going and all those things need to be addressed. The cost of insurance and public liability and all the way it is placed upon employer's shoulders. And if the employer can't operate, he can't hire employees or he can't see after them properly. And like I said to you, you have to see after them properly because if you don't, you won't have them. And workers are very scarce, good workers are very scarce. And look, I need to mention about the current crisis, the oil crisis, where home helps and carers have not been telling me that they can continue and you can leave it in one ear, not the other. But I'm asking you to listen to it because we won't have them until the old people that want to stay in their homes for as long as possible, that will suffer. And they'll finish up and sign hospitals and nursing homes, but it'll cost a lot more to mine them. And I'm asking you to deal with that urgently. And as part of people employing people in construction, there was no package given towards the cost of the green diesel going up for any machinery that's involved in construction. And that won't carry on either. The amount of houses that will be built will be reduced because people can see when it goes up from 98 to 178 that they can't afford it and they won't be able to stay going. Minister, I'm asking the couple of last things I said there to deal with them and to deal with them urgently. Thank you. Thank you.
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