Small businesses and young people hit by ‘bruising’ and ‘savage’ budget

SMALL businesses and young people were among the first to express their anger at Wednesday’s budget.

The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association described the Budget 2010 as “bruising” while the National Youth Council of Ireland accused the Government of implementing “savage cuts on the most vulnerable young people”.
ISME described the budget as a ‘lost opportunity’ to address business concerns and stated that there were few measures introduced to assist hard-pressed businesses.
The association acknowledged what it called “badly needed cuts in public sector pay” but urged the Government to implement the cuts in full and not be influenced by the expected onslaught of protest from the public sector unions.
“The Minister, however, with the exception of reduced levies on alcohol and the reversal of the VAT increase, has failed to recognise the plight of many companies who continue to suffer from the exorbitant cost of doing business in this country. Very little effort was made to address our competitive position, with the Government failing to adequately address the cost environment in which businesses operate,” an ISME spokesperson stated.
“The association is extremely concerned at the decision to reduce the level of funding for training those in employment. The importance of upskilling for the so-called Smart Economy seems to have been lost on the Minister and his colleagues,” the spokesperson added.
ISME was also critical of the timing of the introduction of the carbon tax saying it would only add to the costs of SMEs.
Meanwhile the National Youth Council stated that the only incentive offered by the budget for young people is emigration. It said it opposed “the slashing of Jobseeker’s Allowance to a paltry €100 for young people aged 20 to 21 and €150 to those between 22 to 24 who are unemployed.”
The NYCI described the cuts as “misguided and short-sighted policy” and pointed out that one-in-three young men under 25 are out of work in Ireland.
“We know there are 74,000 young people out of work and these changes will have a significant impact on many of them who have already undergone a means test which demonstrates that they have no or limited alternative income. To slash that by half will drive many who are already struggling further into debt and poverty,” said James Doorley, assistant director at NYCI.
“NYCI wants to get young people off benefits and back to work. As part of a stimulus plan to get the country going again we believe that Government must guarantee every young person out of work a meaningful and appropriate training, education or workplace opportunity within three months of becoming unemployed. We are concerned that the real motive here is just to cut benefits and not anything to do with the needs of young people,” he finished.