Indigenous firms must be nurtured - Tech jobs

ON a news landscape characterised by reports of austerity and war, positive stories are scarcer than hens’ teeth and so it is heartening that 100 small new technology companies are set to generate up to 1,500 jobs here over the next three years.

In a country that boasts some of the world’s biggest firms, people tend to be off-hand about names like Apple and Google. But the minnows unveiled yesterday by Enterprise Ireland are the kind of ventures this country really needs.

In no way is that intended as a slur on US corporations which employ over 82,000 workers in Ireland. Though sometimes viewed though jaundiced eyes, it has to be said that most of them maintained deep roots here despite the economic recession. Admittedly, there is always the danger of putting too many eggs in the one basket because, as many workers have learned to their cost, foreign employers can pack their bags overnight and depart this country at the stroke of a pen to relocate in places where labour is cheaper. And that could happen again if, for instance, Ireland’s 12.5% corporate tax rate, the engine room of foreign investment here, ever increased.

The importance of relatively small indigenous companies is that those who held their nerve and stuck it out during the downturn, while businesses around them were going to the wall, are definitely here for the long haul. With the warm winds of change now blowing through the economy, their courage is beginning to pay dividends. While cranes are once again marching across the skyline, the need to provide greater capital resources and stronger support systems for indigenous industry has never been more evident.

Thankfully, some of those who have failed will be replaced by the fledgling ventures involved in Enterprise Ireland’s potential start-up programme. Funded by the Department of Jobs, the aim is to support export-oriented companies focused on technological innovation, likely to achieve annual sales of €1m and employ 10 people within three years.

Spanning a range of sectors, from software and services, to engineering and medical devices, the jobs target is ambitious for companies which joined the programme last year. Obviously, some will fall through the cracks but if the majority survive it will be money well-spent. Reflecting an emerging pattern encouraged by the policies of this administration, more than half the companies are based in Dublin, with the remainder across the rest of the country.

Last year saw Enterprise Ireland inject early stage capital into 81 new businesses. According to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton the firms involved in these schemes are key to the Government’s plans to fuel jobs growth. Politically, that will be crucial if the impact of austerity is to be countered. The danger of taking this kind of announcement at face value is redoubled because with an election looming, the spin doctors who massage the jobs figures are going into overdrive. No doubt that explains the excessive salary increases, in clear breach of the ceiling set by the Coalition, revealed in the Dáil by Gerry Adams. Let’s hope the same spin doctors are not driving the PR machine behind yesterday’s promising news.