In this week’s Public Policy Bulletin, read about the CSO business survival results and Kantar’s recent report on Ireland’s grocery figures. We also cover the establishment of the Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum. Lastly, we tell you about the Department of Finance’s Back in Business scheme in Northern Ireland.
CSO releases Business Survival results
This week, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) released results found from their ‘Business Signs of Life Series Two: Business Survival, 2020 to 2021’ study, finding a business survival rate of 84 percent at the end of 2021 for businesses that traded normally in 2019.
Businesses continuing to trade at the end of 2021 accounted for 94 percent of the jobs recorded in 2019. The ‘other services activities’ sector, which includes gyms and hairdressers, had the highest proportion of enterprises which showed signs of being at risk of closing, with nearly 1 in 5 experiencing difficulties, followed by the ‘construction’ and ‘accommodation & food service activities’ sectors.
10 percent of enterprises trading pre-COVID-19 were at risk of closing at the end of 2021, rising to 12 percent for micro enterprises. 98 percent of the 653 large enterprises in existence in 2019, were still in business at the end of 2021.
Kantar releases report on grocery inflation
Kantar reported a fall of 7.2 percent in Ireland’s take home grocery spend in the twelve weeks to 17 April 2022, in a period where grocery price inflation hit 4.7 percent inflation, the highest level since September 2013.
23 percent of households say they are now struggling to make ends meet when it comes to their weekly food shop according to Kantar’s most recent Link Q Service. Despite this, sales of instant hot snacks and frozen pizzas saw growth of 9 and 4 percent respectively over the last four weeks. Alongside this, hot cross buns saw a jump in spending this year, an additional €620,000 compared to the previous year, and €10.8 million more was spent on Easter eggs.
See the full report here.
Establishment of Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum
This week the Minister for Trade Promotion, Company Regulation and Digital, Robert Troy TD established and chaired the new Enterprise Digital Advisory Forum, a commitment in both the ‘AI –Here for Good: A National AI Strategy for Ireland’ and Ireland’s National Digital Strategy, ‘Harnessing Digital: The Digital Ireland Framework’.
The Forum, which brings together representatives of indigenous enterprise, multi-national enterprises and experts in digital technology, will support Government in driving the digitalisation of enterprise across Ireland.
Minister Troy indicated plans for 90 percent of SMEs to have achieved basic digital intensity by 2030 and sees the Forum as “crucial to supporting Government to encourage this change.”
Department of Finance’s Back in Business scheme
This week, the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland started accepting applications for their Back in Business scheme. This scheme is aimed at attracting businesses back onto the high streets and into town centres.
Businesses will be offered a 50 percent rates discount for up to two years if they move into premises that have been unoccupied for more than 12 months and previously used for retail purposes. Applications will be accepted up until 31st March 2023.
See here for more information.