As a Small Business Owner this last year has been tough, but it has been made much tougher by the actions and policies of the current Government. When it comes to running a small business and trying to put plans and budgets in place to get us through the current difficulties, it is certainty about what level of taxes/cuts are coming down the line, that is most important.

Since this current financial crisis has begun, the Government has adopted a “Mushroom Management” approach to SME Businesses, “Keep them in the Dark, Feed them Shit and they’ll Produce the Goods”. They are constantly telling us that The Country is in Dire Financial Straits, that Tough Measures will have to be put in place and that we all need to put our Shoulder to the Wheel, but what they are not doing is outlining what they are going to do over the next three years in terms of Taxes and Cuts.

If as an individual I have savings in the bank for a rainy day and the Government will not tell me what is coming down the line for the next three years, then I’m going to sit on my savings and not spend them because I don’t know what I’m facing into. If on the other hand I have a reasonably clear picture of what is coming down the line then I can do up my budget and maybe discover that I can afford to change the car, build the extension or something else.

It’s the same for small businesses. If we don’t have a clear picture of what we are facing into, then we are going to be much more reluctant to take on extra staff, or take on extra borrowings to grow the business and put anything other than short term survival plans in place.

So my appeal to the Minister for Finance is to “Plan for the Worst and Hope for the Best”. Take a worst case scenario and put in place Taxes, Cuts and Polices for the next three years that will deal with the current financial situation and that way we as small business owners can make realistic plans for our business that go beyond surviving for the next six months.

The final thing I would like to say to the Minister is, that when it comes to Job Creation we can do nothing about the global situation and foreign multinational manufacturers,which is outside this countries control. There is nothing we can do to create jobs in the public sector, because that needs to be restructured and reduced in size. But what we can do is put in place clear policies and incentives for Irish SME businesses so that business owners can plan for the future, grow their businesses and ultimately, create jobs.

It is the SME sector that will drive growth and get this country out of the recession and we can do it a lot quicker if the government puts in place clear policies to support SME businesses.