Call for €2bn training fund for Irish small firms in budget

Azets also urged Finance Minister Michael McGrath to set the national minimum wage increase to around 5% instead of 12%

Azets Ireland CEO Neil Hughes urged the Government to set aside €2bn 'to establish a SME innovation fund so Irish SMEs can harness the opportunities of the twin digital and green transition'. File picture

Finance Minister Michael McGrath should set aside €2bn for a fund to help Irish small firms to train staff, business advisory firm Azets has urged in its submission ahead of October’s budget.

Azets, which was formerly called Baker Tilly Ireland, also wants the Government to intervene to peg the rise in the national minimum wage to around 5%, instead of a recommended increase of 12%, to lessen what would be “a significant burden on SMEs”. 

The advisory firm is the latest business services or business lobby group to call on the Government to set up funds to address specific areas of the economy. 

It comes as the exchequer continues to take in many billions of euro from a variety of taxes, and from corporation tax revenues in particular. 

Mr McGrath has already pledged to finance investment funds from “windfall” corporation tax receipts, although his proposal to set up an infrastructure fund has been questioned by some economists.

Azets chief executive Neil Hughes said an SME fund would help Irish small firms train staff, hold onto personnel, and go some way to helping an economy that is skewed in favour of foreign-owned multinationals. 

“The pre-budget submission includes a proposal to set aside €2bn to establish a SME innovation fund so Irish SMEs can harness the opportunities of the twin digital and green transition,” Mr Hughes said. 

“Taken in conjunction with other measures, the fund would present an opportunity to begin diversifying Ireland’s economic model,” he said.

Azets said the fund would be run with the Government, its Enterprise Ireland agency, Local Enterprise Offices, employment bodies, and small firms and would be “tasked with developing a dedicated roadmap to address bottlenecks in the labour market”. 

Azets said that small firms are facing additional costs, but are nonetheless navigating the inflation crisis, with only a small number facing major financial difficulties. 

It cites its survey to show fewer than one in five SMEs predict revenues will fall this year, even as “rising prices are putting a squeeze on already tight margins while many businesses facing difficulties in attracting and retaining talented people”.