The Family Business Network has given a conditional welcome to the government’s TBESS, criticising the limiting of support to manufacturers and exporters within the Ukrainian Enterprise Crisis Scheme.
“Family businesses welcome the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme,” said executive director John McGrane, “but the limiting of support to manufacturers and exporters within the Ukrainian Enterprise Crisis Scheme severely penalises the other employers on which they depend in every community, such as retail, waste and other key local services.”
He added that Ireland is too reliant on tax revenue from just a few foreign firms and action needs to be taken if the government wants to protect and develop our home-grown employers.
“Budget 2023 is a missed opportunity to begin rebalancing the economy and put these firms, which account for four times the Net National Product of their FDI counterparts, at the heart of economic planning — we urgently need a new long-term strategy for local employers and jobs.”
Childhood Services Ireland head Darragh Whelan described the additional investment of €121m in childcare subsidies as “a good start”, but added that “there is a long way to go for the childcare sector”.
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“All of our members are still being hammered by inflation and are unable to raise fees. We need continued investment in the sector to ensure affordability for parents, fairness for staff and sustainability for providers.
“One of the biggest issues is the availability of childcare places and we would encourage the government to make it more attractive for childcare providers to open more services.’’
Sherry Fitzgerald struck an optimistic note, praising the expansion of energy credits for homes and businesses, the reduction in the cost of childcare, and changes to tax brackets as likely to “help alleviate inflationary pressures and ensure that our economy remains in its robust position”.
However, the property firm slammed what it described as “the failure to introduce any serious policies to combat the systematic problems in the rental sector”.
“The number of properties available to rent has fallen significantly in recent years with private investors abandoning the buy-to-let market. For every single investor buying into the market, two are exiting. There is nothing of note in today’s budget that addresses this situation," said Marian Finnegan, managing director, Sherry FitzGerald Residential & Advisory
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“The introduction of €500 tax credits for renters, representing as it does less than 3% of average annual rent in Ireland, will have a limited impact, and fails to address the crux of the problem in the rental market, a lack of supply.
“Budget 2023 was a missed opportunity to address anomalies in the treatment of all investors in the rental market. Additionally, the government has committed to implementing a vacant property tax at three times the current rate of LPT due. It is laudable in its intent, but it is unlikely to return a substantial amount of stock back to the market,” Finnegan added
