Govt urged to reduce red tape for small firms

The ISME today warned that the increasing levels of bureaucracy, regulation and red tape involved in doing business in Ireland is bad news for the ability of small firms to prosper.

The small firms association said that in the last year, 38 new pieces of legislation impacting on business have been introduced.

An anticipated 74 pieces of new legislation are in the pipeline for 2004.

"The impact of this legislation is felt hardest by small businesses, as they are primarily labour intensive and this increased labour legislation is a significant barrier to small companies increasing their employee numbers," the ISME said.

The group said that the highly regulated market in Ireland is very much a "consequence of EU-led legislation, which is having a detrimental effect on the European Community's ability to create jobs and remain competitive".

The ISME called for any imposition of European standards over and above the internationally accepted norm to be resisted.

Regulatory impact assessments should be introduced on all legislation and in particular, regulations affecting small businesses.

The group said standards should "take account of costs, benefits and risks and should not act as barriers to trade".

The group proposed that SMEs should be exempt form certain labour regulations, which prevent flexibility and demand an excessive amount of time, which could be put to better use running the business.