Mattie McGrath Blasts Over-Regulation, Warns Small Businesses Will Be Smothered
Mattie McGrath spoke about excessive regulation and corporate governance, arguing that over-regulation is crippling small businesses and rural communities. He criticised perceived leniency for large companies on tax and employment classifications and urged regulators to offer support rather than punitive enforcement.
Key criticisms of corporate governance
McGrath referred to multiple cases of poor corporate governance, saying examples range from the children’s hospital to other high-profile failures. He highlighted discussions about RT and alleged bogus self-employment, noting that a 15 million euro fund has reportedly been set aside in anticipation of a revenue settlement - a practice he suggested could amount to fraud.
Small business experience and impact
Speaking from personal experience, McGrath said he is a director of a small business that employs about 25 people. He argued excessive regulations and growing bureaucracy are “weighing down” small companies, leading to closures and the disappearance of local businesses that he described as the backbone of rural areas and villages.
Regulatory practice and NERA inspections
McGrath criticised enforcement approaches, describing visits by what he called NERA - National Employers Rights Association - that inspect late at night to check different pay rates after midnight. He said current practice is ‘‘all stick and no carrot’’ and that many statutory instruments and new regulations, sometimes lobbied for by NGOs, make compliance harder for small firms.
Calls for supportive engagement
He called for a change in approach so agencies from the Department of Enterprise would consult and assist businesses rather than only enforcing rules. McGrath said the focus should be on supports not restraints, warning that without reform ‘‘we're going to smother and cloak every business in the country’’ and urging a wake-up call on over-zealous regulation.
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Yes, I do, that to get a chance to speak on this, and it's interesting, you know, companies and corporate business, and when we have seen over the decades what has happened in corporate governments and the lack of it, and we could refer to children's hospital, we could refer to umpteen cases of poor corporate governments, and I have to clear myself first, as opposed to an interest, Sean Conner, that I'm a director of small business, we apply 25 people, but the regulations, and the excessive regulations, and the weight down on small companies, is just unbelievable, and I know that everyone has to keep it in the guidelines, and keep it in the law, and every small company wants to do that, and do that, but if you're big and powerful, I mean, any person that doesn't pay their taxes or whatever, they get hit with huge revenue bills, with savage interest, penal interest I'd say, and penalties, but RT, that we've been discussing, and what their accounts, and how they're bogus self-employment, and they have a 15 million fund put away, in anticipation of a settlement of revenue, for wrongly classifying employees, so, you could call it fraud, but I mean, it's very, it's very, very serious, but no small business gets that, gets that leniency from the revenue, and this is a big bogus of mine, and Deputy Collins was mentioning, and it was mentioning the whole situation of small businesses closing, they're disappearing before our eyes, and it's because of too much corporate governments, too much interference from big brother, it's unbelievable, and I don't know, what this legislation is going to do for it, but we have to cop ourselves on, we've been tied up in bureaucracy, tied up in bureaucracy, and there's more new statutory instruments, and new regulations coming out all the time, and many of these have been lobbied for, by, I don't know, non-governmental organisations, everybody is, but I know who dreams them up, but they are making it extremely difficult for small businesses to continue, and the small businesses are the backbone of any community, in the rural areas, and villages, they are the real backbone, and we should have agencies out there, we have NERA then, National Employers Rights Association, I think is what the acronym is, and they visit different hotels, and different companies, and they come in at 12 o'clock a night, and check out how they, it's a different pay rate from 12 o'clock onwards, and they might come in at 5 past 12, what we need out there is, for them to be redirected, to go into business and say, we're here now from the Department of Enterprise, and we want to know, is there any way we can assist you, any of your companies, or is there any, anything that you want to talk about, who consults, goes talk to them, and listens to them, and gives them a listening ear, and that's what they should be doing, but they're not doing it, so it's all stick, and no carrot, and ordinary people want to work, and create employment, and business people want to create employment, but if we don't cop on to the, to the over-regulation, and the excessive interference, we're going to smother and cloak every business in the country, we're going to smother and cloak them, and it's a wake-up call, and it's going on for youngs, so young caller, I won't say much more on this night, but I'm just making the point that we need supports, not restraints, and encumbrance, and indeed, over-zealous regulation, and stuff that way, so, I mean, that's the situation, shall I say, and I'll say, go back to the next day, and I'll say, go back to the next day. Thank you.
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