Conference to address needs of SMEs

SMEs want local and national government to organise tenders for big contracts in such a way that Ireland’s 250,000 small and medium sized enterprises can bid for them.

This will be one of the issues discussed at an international conference in Athlone next week organised by the EU’s committee of the regions and attended by representatives from all 27 member states.

The principle of “think small first” is becoming even more important now in the EU given slowing growth and with 23 million SMEs in business.

Councillor Constance Hanniffy is president of the economic and social policy committee of the committee of the regions and is bringing the conference to Athlone.

She believes that SMEs must be facilitated in bidding for parts of contracts or in forming partnerships to tender for bigger projects. Ireland has already been successful in promoting this in the construction sector but needs to expand this now.

“What we need is the Think Small First principle and there is a role here for local and regional authorities in reducing the administrative burden on small companies.

“We also need to review the culture of buying goods and services and to look at how changes are applied and how local and regional authorities interact with the small business community,” she said.

SMEs employ 780,000 people in Ireland alone and it is generally recognised that they need better regulation and less red tape and better access to finance, skills and innovation, she said.

The conference will also discuss the European Commission’s proposals for a small business act for Europe, which is designed to feed in to an opinion from the Committee to the European Commission.

Taoiseach Brian Cowen will open the conference on Monday.