BUSINESS REACTION:POLITICAL PARTIES have been pushed to outline how, if in government, they would reduce business costs, modernise bankruptcy laws and improve infrastructure in order to get the economy moving again.
The Dublin Chamber of Commerce has outlined a series of “pro-business measures” in its election manifesto that it has called on the parties to respond to ahead of polling day on February 25th.
The manifesto says that the abolition of upward only rent reviews, the modernisation of bankruptcy laws to encourage entrepreneurship, and root and branch public sector reform must be part of the next programme for government.
The chamber also says the next government must push for the broadening of the Business Expansion Scheme to encourage investment and force the National Asset Management Agency to release property into the market to stimulate economic activity.
“The next government needs a resilient business sector that will assist in rebuilding the economy and creating employment,” Dublin chamber president Imelda Reynolds said yesterday.
“The perception of Ireland as a so-called Celtic Tiger built solely on an overblown construction sector must be changed. The growth of domestic and exporting trading businesses and employment is fundamental to [altering] this perception.”
Aebhric McGibney, chamber policy director, said each of the parties has spoken of a need for change in the public sector.
The chamber has called on them to commit to “root and branch” reform of the public sector, Mr McGibney said. In order to do this, it proposes more outsourcing, taking a pro-active approach to privatisation and creating an “executive mayor of Dublin” responsible for the cost effective delivery of local services.
The chamber is also seeking delivery of the Dart underground and Metro North rail services, the roll-out of next generation broadband, an upgraded water distribution network and the delivery of the Dublin Institute of Technology campus at Grangegorman.
The full manifesto will be unveiled at the chamber’s agm dinner in Dublin tonight.
