Groups representing the most vulnerable small companies, including tourism, hospitality, and retail firms facing into the Covid-19 storm, say they are angered by the Government’s decision to allow Revenue collect a regular Vat payment at the end of next week.

Thousands of jobs could be lost “within weeks” in the tourism and hospitality industry unless urgent State support is provided to the sector.

Lorraine Higgins, CEO of Digital Business Ireland (DBI), says Irish SMEs need a Minister dedicated to support the nation's online export ambitions

FBD chief executive Fiona Muldoon has defended the insurer’s profit levels, saying exceptional circumstances and not price rip-offs had led to it doubling profits to almost €113m last year.

The loss, within a matter of days, of more than 800 jobs at two US multinational companies highlights, once again, the nature of Ireland’s unbalanced economy and the urgent need to assist, promote and encourage indigenous industry.

Joe Aherne, CEO of Leading Edge Group in Cork, suggests that SMEs need to make significant productivity gains and that Brexit, in whatever form it eventually takes, poses a once in a generation challenge for small business.

Business group Isme is advising member companies in the frontline of a crash-out Brexit at Halloween to immediately prepare staff for potential redundancies.

A Government pledge for a new start in the way it treats Irish small firms has been welcomed by business groups as it prepares to unveil in the autumn a new policy for SMEs under the auspices of the OECD.

A project to develop 16 houses in Pallaskenry, Co Limerick, has raised 100% of the €2.4m in funding that it pitched out to peer-to-peer investors just a few weeks ago.

More than 7% - or nearly €900m - of SME loans currently on the books of the country's main banks have been deemed as being "highly vulnerable" by the Central Bank.

The Seanad has, on the back of recommendations from various business groups, called on the Government to introduce a junior ministerial role to represent SMEs, as well as a number of other support measures.

SMEs are asking for more loans, Bank of Ireland has said, boosting hopes that some of the worst effects of Brexit are beginning to lift.

Four out of five Cork businesses expect an increase in turnover in the next 12 months, while a third would like support to enter new markets in the wake of Brexit.

AIB will consider further bad loan sales as it looks to reduce up to €3bn of debt by the end of the year.

SMEs have been urged to beef up their cybersecurity defences as attacks increase exponentially.

Brexit uncertainty is already weighing on spending and investment plans, and banks are less willing to advance loans to SMEs, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute.

The vast majority of small and medium businesses have no experience of dealing with customs and Brexit is going to cause huge problems for them says CEO.

Irish SMEs have a lot to gain from being more invested in their mobile online presence, says John Brennan, director at ePresence Online Marketing.

A team at CIT is carrying out major research on “golden opportunities” for SMEs in the so-called silver economy, which is estimated to be worth €5.7 trillion in the next eight years.

There was much to please business in the budget.

The rejection rate by banks for Irish SME loans is running at twice that for many other EU countries, according to the latest Central Bank report on small firms.

Data-protection authorities have been urged to be “instructive, rather than punitive”, towards SMEs, following the introduction of the EU’s general data-protection regulaion (GDPR) this week.

Irish exporters in limbo after ‘knee-jerk’ response

Strong support is needed for our domestic base through what looks set to be tricky times — a challenge that could be as great as that of 2011, writes Kyran Fitzgerald.

An in-depth analysis says SMEs could gain €6.8bn in extra work and corporate tax revenues could rise €2bn over five years if the State’s tendering process was changed, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

ISME has said it fears that Eir's withdrawal from the tendering process of the National Broadband Plan will delay the scheme to 2023.

Small and medium businesses have warned they will not be able to afford wage increases any time soon.

Fianna Fáil has also done many God-awful things but the fact is they handled the banking crash well, writes Victoria White

As we look back at 2017, Brexit and Trump are two words that came to define many of the year’s headlines, says John Daly

Overall debt levels for SMEs have fallen but small hotels and restaurants remain the most vulnerable, according to a new Central Bank study.

Britain has been criticised for failing to provide any notable support mechanisms for small businesses in the North in its latest budget, even though an additional £650m (€733m) for the North’s economy was welcomed.

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) said its potential bill for claims against its small business restructuring division will remain at £400m (€448m) after misconduct allegations against it were dismissed by Britain’s financial regulator.

New mortgage lending will rise to €10bn next year but the loans market will remain constrained because too few new homes are coming on stream, a leading mortgage expert has said.

There has been a big increase in loan refusals from banks to SMEs, the body representing the sector claims.

Lending to SMEs has fallen for the 23rd consecutive quarter and is down 7.5% for the year, new Central Bank figures show.

The Irish exchequer raises large amounts of tax from income and USC but personal tax cuts may mean few windfalls, figures from the Irish Tax Institute show.

Measures need to be taken in order to make small and medium enterprises ’Brexit-proof’ or it “could derail Ireland’s economy”, a body representing Irish and British business has said.

Sterling slumped to under 90p against the euro as the UK looks set to keep interest rates lower for longer, piling on the pressure for Irish-owned firms who make a living selling goods and services across the Irish Sea.

Official figures suggest the Irish economy is driving on all cylinders but a look under the bonnet reveals a less reassuring picture in which higher-than-necessary interest rates and huge mortgage debt is holding back the potential of Irish SMEs and households.

Irish banks continue to charge Irish small firms the highest interest rates in the eurozone, with a new Central Bank report suggesting the problem may have gotten worse for many SMEs, despite wholesale funding of banks resting at rock-bottom rates.