Small business representatives have welcomed the Government setting out a national growth strategy for SMEs, but have urged swift implementation.

IBEC is calling on the Government to introduce supports for businesses in tomorrow's budget if there is a no-deal Brexit.

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.

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

The Irish SME Association (ISME) is calling on the next EU Competition Commissioner to take on powerful vested interests among the big US tech companies.

Brexit remains the biggest worry for small and medium enterprises as business become increasingly concerned about the future.

Just 6% of Irish businesses have a formal Brexit plan in place, according to a new report.

A rapid growth in Credit Union lending is expected to continue as Solution Centre rolls out enhanced Credit Union Business Model.

“Cash-strapped” small businesses are being hamstrung by rising rates of loan refusals from banks, with existing overdrafts now being sold to vulture funds, a body representing SMEs has warned.

Three grants amounting to €7 million have been successfully secured by three Irish companies in the most recent round of Horizon 2020 SME Instrument funding which received 1280 applications from all over Europe.

An insurance reform group representing businesses has said the lack of an SME expert on the Personal Injuries Assessment Board is a “glaring omission” by the Government.

AIB has secured an additional €122 million in new SME funding as part of its partnership with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI).

The overall volume of loans taken out by Irish SMEs continues to fall into its seventh year as interest rates they are charged on their new loans remain the highest in Europexx and are more expensive than the charges faced on existing loans.

The results of the ISME Quarterly Business Trends Survey for Q4 2017, released today show confidence in the SME sector continuing to improve.

Business growth is rolling on and the exchequer is benefiting in no small way.

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.

Rising confidence levels seen earlier in the year among small and medium-sized businesses all but eroded during the second quarter of the year, a new survey shows.

Small business lobby group Isme has slammed the level of bank lending to SMEs as “concerning” and “disappointing” after revealing the loan refusal rate has jumped from 23% to 28% of applications during the second quarter of the year.

Bank lending to SMEs fell by 8.9% on a year-on-year basis during the first three months of the year, marking the 22nd consecutive quarter of downward movement, new figures from the Central Bank have shown.

Vodafone Ireland says refunds are on the way to some of its customers who were charged twice, for credit and debit card payments.

This week, I’m looking back on some of the best start-ups I’ve had the pleasure of talking with during 2016.

Irish SMEs foresee the UK’s proposed exit from the EU as being significantly more negative to Ireland’s economy than the pending US presidential change.

As we all know, or at least should realise, foreign direct investment is an incredibly important component of Ireland’s economic model and structure.

With consumers here set to spend over €100m online over Black Friday and Cyber Monday, more than two-thirds of SMEs aren’t ready to cash in on the bonanza.

Royal Bank of Scotland Group denied deliberately forcing the collapse of small business customers in the wake of the 2007 financial crisis after two news organisations published leaked internal documents.

In this week’s column, Kehlan Kirwan writes on Silicon Valley and VCs and asks whether startups will lose out if the appetite for risk-taking continues to fade. There are signs some companies are getting bigger slices of the pie.    

Kehlan Kirwan meets Jan van Casteren of Flexport, one of the world’s hottest start-ups which has raised €25m in investments. Flexport aims to disrupt the trillion-euro shipping industry involved in freight management.

Trish Dromey profiles a Limerick manufacturer of table sauces which, despite Brexit, seeks to expand across the Irish Sea

Irish e-commerce software company Scurri is looking to establish a dedicated UK team and add roles at its London office that otherwise would have been earmarked for Ireland as it considers its future after the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

Irish SMEs are continuing to pay over the odds to access funding, despite minor decreases in the cost of credit over the past year.

Irish firms drew down €172m in lower cost loans from the government’s SME financing fund in its first 10 months in operation.

Microfinance Ireland, the State-backed SME lending vehicle, has announced a 1% cut in the interest rates it charges borrowers.

Small firms account for 98% of all national business.

Irish SMEs looking to overseas markets are suffering from a lack of resources and understanding of export markets but would benefit from government policies that support clustering.

The OECD — the international think tank — said the Government should do more for Irish indigenous SMEs as it highlighted small firms here pay among the highest borrowing costs in the eurozone.