Believe it or not there’s a budget coming down the tracks …..
Over the last few years business and consumer confidence has been crippled for the latter weeks of October and through November as we’ve braced ourselves for austerity budget after austerity budget.
On the various budget programmes we’ve had over the years it’s been a constant refrain from people ion business “For Gods sake please move the Budget out of the most crucial retailing period of the year”.
Well the politicians have listened and this year the Budget is in October. And on top of that good news is the fact that so far there has been a marked decrease in the incidence of political kite flying; posturing and point scoring that has compounded the damage endured dby business owners in recent years. Long may that continue as there are signs that things are picking up ….. slightly.
I’m saying that with great caution however after a tough few months where during the chill months of March and April consumer confidence was on the floor some more activity seems to be entering the market.
That being said there are issues lurking in the undergrowth that still have the potential to cause damage and derail the economies fragile recovery – we talked to Tom Molloy about some of them on the show this evening. Tom thinks that the personal insolvency regime which has just been unveiled is a shambles and effectively fails to really address the problem. He’s saying that unless there is a more honest appraisal and direct approach there will be further trouble ahead. Is the new regime just an Irish solution to an Irish problem ? We’ll see in the coming months.
While the budget is earlier the thoughts of some people in business are already very much on the Christmas period. We spoke to James Keogh and Thomas Keogh both directors of the family run Rathwood Centre in Tullow. The figures for their Santa Train are truly astounding and shows that despite whatever the economy throws at us there is still a huge market for the wonder and joy of children at Christmas.
Tourism and hospitality has been a rare bright spot in the economy and Gary Breen of Failte Ireland told us that this year Ireland is set to break the 1 million US visitors and $1 billion dollars spend marker. Welcome news indeed. The UK market is the “fly in the ointment” but overall tourism and hospitality is upbeat. HOWEVER speaking of the budget Paul Byrne of Zuni who was on the programme to talk about the 9% VAT rate said that its retention is critical for businesses such as his where spend is hugely price sensitive.
Another busy Bottom Line programme this week. That statement is really a lame way of tieing in with our final guest this evening “Busy Bees” Creche and Montessori. The brainchild of Aine Russell a Mayo woman who lives in Kilkenny we heard about the expansion of the business over the years and how Aine is introducing a new website later this month.
That’s it again for this week. Let us know if there’s something you reckon we need to be covering. You’ll reach us at [email protected]
Regards
John
