Irish Exporters Association welcomes Government reboot considerations

The Irish Exporters Association welcomes the announcement by the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation of an expansion of supports to businesses. The body, which highlighted the need for support back in February, commended the Government for pledging further support and the Minister’s comments regarding an economic reboot.

The representative body is leading the discussion on the need for an economic restart and has written to the Taoiseach calling for a cabinet sub-Committee led by senior Ministers to prepare plans.

Simon McKeever commented “I commend the pace and speed at which support packages are being rolled out. Yesterday’s announcement comes at a challenging time for businesses in which a boost to morale is needed. The €180 million Sustaining Enterprise Fund is a welcome boost to the manufacturing and international services sectors. We will be paying close attention to the details to ensure that our members concerns are alleviated by these supports.

I was encouraged to hear the Minister’s comments that another range of packages for a reboot are being worked out with the Minister for Finance. How the economy will pick up and move forward when normal business resumes must be taken into account when formulating our response to this crisis. We are also calling on the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection to extend social and employment supports beyond 12 weeks in the interest of keeping businesses working. We have been working closely with all relevant Departments to ensure that exporting companies’ current and future concerns are being heard and addressed. “