Small firms demand 11-month price pause for public service rates

THE representative body for the country’s small businesses has called for an 11-month price pause for public sector charges.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) said that if there is to be an 11-month pay pause in the public sector there should be a price pause too.

It said this would help business support the Government’s aim of price restraint and help restore competitiveness.

The SFA has also said the Government needs to create economic conditions which will help firms to grow.

It said the Government needs to behave more like small business owner-managers in how it manages its approach to the economic downturn.

SFA chairman Pat Crotty said the Government must introduce a development fund to help small businesses operating in home market.

He said that while enterprise boards support all businesses in some capacity, once businesses are of a sufficient scale, they should be able to avail of the next level of supports.

“To date, the emphasis has been on manufacturing businesses that export and on internationally traded services,” he said.

“This neglects the group of companies that are operating very successfully in the domestic market. A development fund should be created for these businesses to further enhance their contribution to the economy,”

Mr Crotty was speaking at the SFA annual conference in Dublin Castle yesterday which 350 people attended.

“We all need businesses to thrive so that the economy can thrive,” Mr Crotty said.

The Government needs to remember, he said, that only by businesses making a profit and continuing to employ people, will it have the money to fulfil its social agenda through taxation on capital and labour.

The SFA has also called on the Government to use the European harmonised index when considering inflationary increases. Inflation in Ireland is measured by the consumer price index (CPI), which takes into account mortgage interest.

However the SFA said every other country in Europe uses the European harmonised index, which differs from our CPI by excluding mortgage interest.

“Now, for the life of me, I cannot understand why the local authorities, for example, need to include mortgage interest in their calculation of how much rates to charge you and me for the coming year. The same applies to all other agents of the State,” said Mr Crotty.

“The Government wants to use the European harmonised index as the basis of the pay talks. If it wants to establish it as the norm let them use it for their own charging purposes.

“Government must act now to create the economic conditions conducive to small business growth and expansion,” he said.