July 28, 2014 — New York, NY

The Dublin Chamber of Commerce is calling on the Government to give business owners early access to a portion of their pension funds for the specific purpose of business growth.  It calculates that up to €7.5bn worth of SME financing could be unlocked if this idea was implemented.  It forms part of the Chamber’s Budget submission which they are publishing today. The Chamber says the Government now needs to focus on non-banking financing solutions for SMEs.

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Staying with the enterprise theme and anyone hoping to set up a business might consider going the co-op route. Legislation comes into effect today easing the regulatory burden on co-operative societies and making it easier to set up and run one. Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton introduced reduced fees for the registration of co-operative societies about a year and a half ago. Among the changes will be an extension of the examinership process to co-ops.