The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, together with the Minister of State for Small Business, John Perry, has launched Managing Out of The Crisis, a simple guide to assist small businesses in difficulty.
The guide, which was developed in response to a recommendation from the Advisory Group for Small Business, provides simple advice for small businesses facing difficulties, as well as contact details and website addresses for organisations where further guidance will be available.
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation will be displaying the guide on its website, and has contacted business representative organisations, the CEB network, banks, and other relevant organisations and asked them to display the guide in their branches and on their websites.
Today’s announcement comes following the delivery of a key commitment in the Action Plan for Jobs.
Minister Bruton said: “A key part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is not only to ensure that we have new companies starting up, but also that we protect to the greatest extent possible the jobs in existing businesses. We are currently undergoing a transition as a country, from the old, failed, economy based on property to a new, sustainable economy based on innovation and enterprise. This transition, as well as the economic crisis from 2008, poses challenges for many businesses. The role of government in this situation is to act to help businesses manage those challenges so that the greatest possible number of jobs are protected and created.”
The Advisory Group for Small Business (AGSB ), chaired by Minister for Small Business John Perry, in its report, The Voice of Small Business, recommended the development and wide circulation of the guide setting out the warning signs and encouraging small businesses to ask for help.
Minister Perry said: “The reality is that within any enterprise structure there is a constant churn of company formation and closure. Ensuring that the system is supportive as companies face difficulties, in the current environment is therefore, vitally important. It is against this background that the Government committed under the Action Plan for Jobs to develop a practical information guide - Managing out of the Crisis.
Minister Perry added that the publication of the information guide “is continuing evidence of this Government’s efforts to ensure that as many small businesses as possible can, through accessing the various web-links set down in the Guide, have the confidence to start tackling any problems they may have and work their way through them, in consultation with the relevant service providers. The sooner that businesses spot potential problems, the sooner they can fix them.”
Minister Perry further said that the members of the Advisory Group for Small Business had assisted the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in drafting the guide and had signed off on its publication.
The guide is available at www.djei.ie/publications/managingoutofthecrisis pdf
