Newly elected chamber chief spells out business priorities to Taoiseach
Addressing Dublin Chamber’s annual general meeting — and its guest of honour, Mr Cowen — Mr Timmins, who is also chief executive of iconic Dublin retailer, Clerys; said that the majority of businesses are viewing cost reduction as their major priority along with their cashflow management.
Quoting from a new survey of 350 chamber-member companies, he said that 58% of those businesses surveyed believed that Government must prioritise its managing of the public finances.
Preliminary findings of the report, which were released last week, showed that 90% of respondents are either freezing or cutting pay and are not in a position to pay the agreed partnership pay deal.
However, two in three companies believed that a partnership framework was still required to address the current economic situation.
“In my industry, the retail industry, we led the call for the suspension of the pay elements of the partnership saying that at a time of deflation, it was immoral and wrong to pay increases to one group of employees while financing that increase by making their colleague effectively unemployed.
“Furthermore, we said that where cuts were required, that leadership had to be taken by those who had benefited most in recent years,” Mr Timmins said in his address last night.
“Many managers are now managing for cash flow, not for profit. Five in six businesses reported that it was taking longer for them to be paid by their debtors.
“To address this issue, we recommend that the Government create a loan guarantee scheme for Irish SMEs to enable them to re-focus on operating their businesses at an internationally competitive level.
“Sound public finance, a re-invigorated level of confidence and a competitive business environment will set the context for Ireland’s recovery,” he added.
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