The next Government must support local job creation and small businesses, according to Independent candidate for the Roscommon Galway Constituency Denis Naughten, who has called for a change in attitude to local businesses which have the potential to drive job creation in both counties Galway and Roscommon.
“The fact is that small businesses are not small employers and just a little help could do a lot to address the unemployment problem here in Roscommon and Galway,” stated Denis Naughten.
“To encourage small business we need to support our local enterprise offices. Bizarrely both the Roscommon and Galway offices only get enough grant aid for six months each year, while other counties get twice that amount of funding.
“But it’s not just grant aid. We need to make it easier for local companies to tender for public contracts by breaking them up to allow small businesses and the self-employed to tender. Instead of offering one large-scale contract to one business a new approach would allow small local businesses to tender for individual contracts such as painting local schools etc. and would undoubtedly benefit both small businesses and the self-employed.”
Denis Naughten added: “In addition, we must look at the UK model of PRSI which allows self-employed people to become employees in certain situations and to pay PRSI contributions, which would offer protection where self-employed individuals become sick or cannot find work.
“Also, while there is plenty of support and advice available for those who want to export, the reality is that the majority of people working in Roscommon and East Galway are employed in small companies, which would benefit from a structured and dynamic mentoring network.
“We must support small business and the self-employed by reforming the way we target business tax reliefs in order to help the local economy and assist with job creation,” concluded Denis Naughten.