6. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the action he is taking to simplify business regulation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51027/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

Red tape is a huge issue for small businesses. When I am out meeting business people, one thing that comes up consistently is red tape. What is the Minister of State doing to cut through red tape and simplify business regulation?

Sentiment score: 0.01

Go maith agat. I really welcome all that is being done in the Department to try to simplify business regulation. From my dealings with the Department, that is definitely the thinking. It wants to make life better for businesses. It wants to make Ireland a better place to operate a business. To reiterate how important this point is, the IBEC CEO Survey 2025 ranks sensible regulation as the third most important issue that CEOs across our country face. As Fianna Fáil spokesperson on enterprise, I want to make sure that we continue with that train of thought. SMEs suffer the brunt of overregulation. They do not have the scale and capacity to subsume a lot of the burden. What will be done for the SMEs to ensure that they will have smoother operations, that they can deal with State agencies better and, ultimately, have greater longevity.

Sentiment score: 0.24

Part of what will make our business environment better to do business in is something that falls within the Minister of State's brief, namely digitisation. Ultimately, the question the Department needs to be asking is whether every grant application, licence permit, etc., can be processed by it digitally? It is important for every Department to look at this because if somebody cannot easily deal with a Department in person, they will still be able to deal with an official online if they encounter any difficulties. That is the way to think about it. I have read many times about Estonia's digital-first policy and how innovative it is. The reality is that Ireland is home to the biggest tech companies in the world. The Government need to show both leadership and that we want to be a digital-first nation. Of course, we want to make sure that nobody gets left behind. We need to show leadership, however, because when all of these companies are investing in Ireland, they want to see that we are tech-minded, that we are tech leaders and that we want to see success for their businesses and this country.

Sentiment score: 0.22