The Small Firms Association (SFA) has today launched its ‘Small Business Manifesto’ which calls for commercial rates reform, improved tax environment and access to upskilling. It also stresses need for combatting the substantial rise in employer and public liability insurance.  

The SFA believes that Ireland urgently needs a coherent strategy that places a clear focus on the 98% of businesses employing half the private sector workforce in Ireland.

The Association says the next government must get behind these indigenous businesses, just as it has supported Ireland's successful multinationals companies – to unlock untapped potential and ensure Irish competitiveness in what is now a very changing world. 

Chairman of the Small Firms Association, Graham Byrne said that with confidence among small business owners hitting a fresh low in 2019 and Brexit and global economic uncertainty set to continue, this election presents the next government with the opportunity to act to limit increases in areas they control and focus on the domestic challenges facing small firms such as giving them the broadband they need through the swift delivery of the National Broadband Plan.

Speaking today, Byrne said, "We are urging every party and candidate contesting the 2020 General Election to listen to, and make every effort to understand, the challenges faced by small firms in the communities they hope to represent. The next government, whatever its makeup, must put small business at the heart of its policies by supporting their transition to a low carbon economy, addressing issues such as childcare, housing, transport links and investing more ambitiously in entrepreneurship."

Source: www.businessworld.ie