SIX investors have indicated a serious interest in investing in the waste collection company Mr Binman, a development which might help ensure its survival as a major employer in Munster, the High Court heard yesterday.

THE retention of the 12.5% rate of corporation tax and expansion of business investment schemes are the key features of the budget’s enterprise strategy.

A BUSINESS expansion scheme already in operation for 26 years will be transformed into a new and better-focused system — the Business Investments Targeting Employment Scheme (BITES) — under the Government’s blueprint for economic recovery.

THE fledgling Fastnet Line, which started plying the Cork-Swansea ferry route last March, believes it will carry more passengers than initially envisaged and the resumption of the service will benefit the south-west region by at least €15 million this year.

NEW research carried out by Red C shows that 77% of indigenous companies believe the highly complex nature of company tax is the biggest concern for start-up businesses.

Frank O’Neill of Ernst & Young has said the likely purchase of carbon credits at significant cost to the exchequer to meet our Kyoto obligations is "a failure of vision in dealing with this issue".

The Small Firms Association has said today’s Budget will restore confidence to the economy.

BUSINESS groups across Ireland have welcomed the European Commission’s approval of extensions and changes to the Business Expansion Scheme and the Seed Capital Scheme, but some have expressed concerns about some of the conditions imposed.

FORMER Attorney General David Byrne and ex-rugby international Oliver Waldron are among a group which has just been granted planning permission for a €20 million marina in Schull, Co Cork.

A new review has found that both the Business Expansion Scheme (BES) and the Seed Capital Scheme (SCS) are important sources of finance for emerging business ventures.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland has strongly endorsed the statement from the Department of Finance that it is for each member state to decide on the structure of its own tax system reflecting its own traditions and priorities.

The Irish Software Association (ISA) has today welcomed the Government’s re-affirmation of its commitment to the expansion of the Business Expansion Scheme (BES).

FINANCE Minister Brian Cowen says Business Expansion Schemes (BES) are necessary if job expansion at small Irish firms is to continue.

The Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) is to lodge a formal complaint with the European Commission on the Government’s decision to extend the business expansion scheme (BES) and the seed capital scheme.

The Irish Software Association (ISA), today welcomed the announcement that the Business Expansion Scheme (BES) and Seed Capital Scheme (SCS) will be continued for another seven years to 2013.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) said that it believed that the tax findings of today’s Forfás survey on Finance and Equity for Small to Medium Enterprises proved the case for the continuation of the Business Expansion Scheme by Minister Cowen on Budget day.

The Small Firms Association (SFA) has welcomed the decision by the European Commission to allow the arrangements a to have the necessary legislation necessary to give effect to the BES and Seed capital schemes announced in last year's Budget.

ELEVEN people who earned over €1 million in 2001 paid no taxes, the Department of Finance (DOF) admitted yesterday.

STATE-BACKED business ventures ought to generate more jobs than they lose in 2004 the Joint Committee on Enterprise and Small Business was told.

A DRAMATIC drop in the number of new start-up software companies is expected after the suspension of the Business Expansion Scheme (BES) and seed capital tax reliefs following the intervention of the European Commission.

Commenting on the Budget, The Irish Exporters Association (IEA) said that although there were many very welcome initiatives in the budget, the immediate impact on exporters will be the increase in excise duty on diesel.

The Business Expansion Scheme (BES) is to be extended to the end of 2006, announced the Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy's in his Budget speech in the Dáil today.

THE Irish Software Association (ISA) wants the Government to make a commitment to buy 20% of its technology requirements from small to medium-sized enterprises.

THE next generation of Irish software companies could be strangled at birth if Finance Minister Charlie McCreevy abolishes investors' tax breaks in Business Expansion Schemes, it was claimed yesterday.

Davy Stockbrokers and BDO Simpson Xavier announced today that the Davy BES Fund 2002 raised over €7.3m in December 2002 - almost 150% of its target.

The Irish Software Association and other industry bodies have indicated that the technology, communications and telecommunications [TMT] sector has not been favoured in the proposed budget and much of what has been put forward is ‘smoke and mirrors’.

In its pre-budget submission, the Irish Software Association [ISA] has expressed concern that Ireland is falling behind other OECD countries in terms of entrepreneurial activity and start-ups.