Speaking at the Small Firms Association's National Small Business Awards today, the Taoiseach announced a number of further steps to assist the enterprise sector:
each county council will establish a 'Business Support Unit' to act as a point of contact to ensure a quick, co-ordinated response to businesses when dealing with local authorities;
the Tánaiste and Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government will shortly meet with local authority mangers to discuss further means of supporting start-up enterprises and improving the enterprise environment in their areas;
the Minister will also shortly announce a number of improvements to reduce regulatory burdens in the planning area;
to help cashflow to businesses, the Government is introducing, on an administrative basis, a commitment to reduce the payment period by central Government Departments from 30 to 15 days;
an assessment will be completed by end-April of the impact of extending this to the local authority, health and education sectors.
Further details of these measures will be provided in the coming days.
The Taoiseach said "Today's event provides a welcome opportunity to acknowledge the vital importance of our small business sector. It shows that the creativity, the passion, the discipline and the drive that powered our SME sector is still alive and kicking -- that Ireland's entrepreneurs are up there with the best of them. And that has to be a great source of confidence for our country's future."
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