Small businesses have been cited as the backbone of the Irish economy, and the government are seemingly making every concerted effort to at least be seen to take an interest in their vitality and future prosperity.
Though we are seemingly out of the recession small businesses continue to struggle to survival the credit squeeze.
Four businesses went bust every day in April of this year according to a InsolvencyJournal.ie; a website run by Dublin insolvency firm, Kavanagh Fennell. Though there are more positive outlooks and turnarounds on the horizon figures are still similar to those recorded for the past two years.
The government is now urging banks to start lending to firms having come under criticism from Labour Party's Eamon Gilmore; though the sentiment is widely felt.
A survey from Isme, which represents small and medium sized enterprises, showed over half of their members were refused credit in the last three months.
The government has now signed off on a €12 billion plan with AIB and Bank of Ireland within which they have pledged to make €6 billion available by the end of 2011.
Minister for Enterprise, Batt O’Keeffe is now set to seek cabinat approval for a State backed loan guarantee scheme for small businesses before the summer recess of the Dail next month.
It’s aimed at getting credit flowing for small businesses who have been rejected by the main banks.
“I am particularly anxious that viable businesses in new high-growth sectors and markets have access to proper credit facilities so that they can generate jobs and compete on a level playing field with firms in other countries that have access to similar loan guarantee schemes,” the Minister said.
It’s about time the government made an effort to support what is seen as the backbone of the Irish economy. The Irish banking system got us in to a lot of difficulty, the government took on the worst of their loans and it’s now indisputably time they played their part in turning the economy around!
Small firms “reluctance to recruit” may also be tackled once they are given the finances to keep their businesses afloat.
As it was justly put by Eamon Gilmore, "Having got the commitment from the taxpayer, the Government should now in no uncertain terms be telling the banks that they have to lend to small and medium-sized businesses - that's why they got the money."
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