Over the past couple of weeks I have been participating in a series of seminars for the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (Isme) around the country, writes Jim Power.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise association says the Government needs to stand up to big businesses and ensure prompt payments for small and medium firms.

Retail sales jumped by 3% in 2013, with the month of December alone showing an increase of 0.6% on November 2013.

The unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 13.4%, the fourth month in a row it has come down.

Banks are lending to small businesses again, according to the latest survey by business body ISME.

The incoming Government needs to make small businesses in Ireland its key priority, according to the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association.

THE black economy could cost the economy €22.5 billion this year and is threatening legitimate business, it has been claimed.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME), is calling on the Government to address the ongoing jobs crisis "once and for all".

New figures from the Department of Enterprise show that 77,000 people were made redundant last year.

Business lobby group ISME is calling for the abolition of Social Partnership.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office highlight great disparities between the public and private sectors in relation to both pay and employment.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association has warned the Government that employer’s PRSI, commercial rates and public sector spending hav to be reduced in next week's emergency Budget.

IRISH people travelling to the US are to face tighter restrictions by having to register their personal details online in advance of their trip.

CHILDREN using school buses may be left high and dry due to rising fuel costs, bus owners warned yesterday.

AS commercial fishermen, bus companies, hauliers, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association and British Airways yesterday reacted to soaring fuel costs by either demanding government intervention or increasing prices, America’s leading commodities regulator launched an unprecedented investigation into possible market manipulation.

SOME leading organisations could urge a “No” vote on the Lisbon Treaty for reasons unrelated to the document, an Oireachtas committee has indicated.

AN unapologetic Taoiseach yesterday defended his €38,000 pay hike and insisted it was unfair to make comparisons with salaries of other world leaders.

IRELAND’S inflation rate at 5.1% is unacceptably high and damaging competitiveness, according to some of the country’s leading economists and business groups.

Small and medium businesses are concerned about the rising costs of doing business, but most plan to increase investment next year, according to the Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME).

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association is due to discuss the issue of rising business costs at a conference in Co Laois today.

STRIKING taxi drivers will meet the industry’s regulator this morning in a bid to end an escalating dispute over a set of pricing and other reforms, which are due to take effect in a fortnight’s time.

JUST 2% of small businesses have any confidence in the criminal justice system to deter repeated criminal activity, according to a new survey.

THE Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) has slammed pension policy and branded PRSAs - Personal Retirement Savings Accounts - an “unmitigated disaster.”

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association chief has called for a public sector overhaul to provide better value for money.

REGULATIONS in the Irish banking sector have seriously restricted entry to the Irish market, said Competition Authority chairman John Fingleton yesterday.

WAGE bills at Irish Small and Medium Enterprises increased by 6% in the last year, well ahead of inflation and more than twice the increases in wages in the eurozone.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise association chairman Robert Berney today outlined the increasing importance of migrant labour in order for the economy to achieve and support maximum growth.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprise Association (ISME) says that the increase in the inflation rate to 2.7% from 2.5% last month confirms that the “scourge” of rising costs has not gone away and continues to pose a significant threat to the economy.

EMPLOYERS may find the new Benefit in Kind (BIK) proposals impossible to implement, a leading employer representative has warned.

The Competition Authority initiated a review last year of competition in Irish banking. Yesterday it published an interim report setting out the scope of its review, which will look at personal accounts and loans to small businesses. A full report will be drawn up by the middle of next year.

THE increase in the minimum wage from €6.35 to €7 will cost thousands of jobs and act as a serious disincentive to the struggling small business sector, a leading employer spokesman has warned.

SMALL businesses are facing an annual €650m theft bill and gardaí can’t tackle the problem, a business group has claimed.

INFLATION has hit a three-year high of 5.1% and is running at more than twice the EU average.