Business
Galway to benefit from new Local Enterprise Office
Galway will benefit from a new Local Enterprise Office (LEO), which is expected to be up and running from April, Fine Gael TD for Galway West, Seán Kyne said this week.
The new LEOs across the country, which will be embedded in the Local Authorities, will act as a one stop shop for the business supports currently delivered by County Enterprise Boards and by Local Authorities.
“The new system of LEOs will completely streamline the supports on offer to local businesses in Galway. The LEO in Galway will develop a plan for boosting local enterprise, setting targets for job creation and new business start-ups. This represents a radical overhaul of how supports are delivered, and will ensure that the system is local, targeted and effective.
“An extra €3.5 million is being allocated to support the new LEO structure this year. There will be 170 dedicated staff across 31 LEOs; these employees will receive specified training to ensure they can deliver services to local businesses in the best possible way”.
Small enterprises employ more than 650,000 people across the country and were responsible for many of the additional 58,000 new jobs created in the past year.
The new LEOs will not only enable Galway County Council and Galway City to strengthen their direct engagement with local businesses but will also enable business-owners and entrepreneurs to focus on growing their business.
Speaking in the Dáil, Deputy Kyne noted: “Time spent on navigating regulatory frameworks, sourcing information and trustworthy advice, and pre paring documents for securing finance have been cited by many of local businesspeople as being of concern.
“The more time businesspeople and entrepreneurs spend on albeit important administrative issues, the less time they have to develop and grow their businesses. That in turn has a direct impact on employment. The creation of one point of contact as envisaged in the Bill will without doubt provide entrepreneurs and owners of existing local businesses with more time to focus on their own business.”
Deputy Kyne added that with the diversity of Galway in terms of urban, rural, suburban, island and Gaeltacht areas, it would be crucial that Galway’s Local Enterprise Office be well positioned to meet the various needs of each area.
“There is major scope here for the local enterprise offices, LEOs, in conjunction with Údarás na Gaeltachta, to work together and provide the best possible supports to our local businesses and entrepreneurs to facilitate job creation,” concluded Deputy Kyne.
The new President of Local Ireland, the association representing local news publishers around the country, is Head of Irish Times Regionals Dan Linehan.
Mr Linehan takes over the presidency from Declan McGuire of the Connacht Tribune. His appointment was confirmed at the recent Annual General Meeting of Local Ireland at Bloomfield House Hotel near Mullingar, Westmeath.
Mr Linehan, who has served as Vice President of the organisation for the last two years, said: “The coming years are a very important time for local publishers with many important issues to be addressed, including the implementation of the Future of Media Commission recommendations, defamation reform, the role and support for local publishers in public service reporting and helping publishers develop commercial digital offerings.”
Speaking at the AGM, Mr McGuire acknowledged the work done by the Executive in the past two years under the direction of Executive Director, Bob Hughes, on several projects related to the publishing industry but most especially the successful conclusion of the long-running campaign for the abolition of VAT on newspapers.
He also wished Mr Linehan the very best in his new role as President of the association for the next two years.
Mr Hughes thanked Mr McGuire for his leadership and support during his term of office and said he looked forward to working with Mr Linehan on the key policy priorities for the association, including Government supports, Government advertising, fair remuneration for content from the tech platforms and the reform of the legislation for defamation.
Local Ireland members also elected Seán Mahon, Managing Director of the Southern Star, as Vice President for the next two years.
The shortage of affordable housing is the single biggest impediment in attracting and retaining workers in the West, according to business group Ibec.
At a ‘Regional Insights Series’ meeting in the Galmont Hotel in Galway last week, employers were told that capacity constraints and labour supply are the key challenges facing business growth in the region.
Ibec Head of Regional Policy Helen Leahy said: “There must be greater focus by government on enhancing quality of life issues such as housing and infrastructure which are driving labour shortages in the region.
“Ibec’s vision for the West is to realise its potential to become a globally competitive location. An inadequate supply of affordable housing is now the single largest impediment to attracting and retaining talented workers, without whom business investment and expansions are not possible.
“Labour shortages are a real concern for businesses in the region. People decide where to live and work based on quality of life and access to high quality services and amenities. Industry tends to follow talent, and in this regard, the region needs to have all the building blocks in place as the attraction and retention of world-class talent becomes increasingly competitive on a global level,” said Ms Leahy.
Amongst Ibec’s priorities for the West are:
- Addressing housing and infrastructure challenges
- Transitioning towards a new growth model with Net Zero energy powered by Atlantic offshore wind resources
- Adapting businesses to the new economic realities
- Enhancing capacity and skillsets to achieve sustainable development objectives
- Investment in people and skills
- Creating competitive advantage through digitalisation
- Innovation as a key driver of productivity growth
One in five Galway businesses want to go fully cashless, as the move towards card payments and tapping continues unabated post-Covid.
In all, 22% of Galway businesses would like to be fully cashless, according to a survey carried out by BOI Payment Acceptance (BOIPA), a provider of payment technology solutions, which asked Irish businesses about the current payment landscape as well as business confidence and concerns.
Over one-third (36%) of Galway businesses were unaware there is no contactless limit on mobile wallets – just below the national average – while 54% believe the increase in card over cash transactions has helped them run their business.
Six out of ten Galway businesses expect to grow this year despite the cost-of-living crisis and running costs dominating as key concerns; 62% believe their business will grow over the next twelve months despite global economic uncertainty.
Unsurprisingly cost-of-living increases and running costs were the main concerns the majority of businesses had.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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