Central Bank governor discusses pressing challenges with Cork businesses

DURING his visit, the Governor discussed the labour market at a meeting with Network Ireland Cork, part of a nationwide organisation which drives the personal and professional development of women. He also asked for views on the banking sector and the level of support for businesses.

“Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are Ireland’s business sector. It is something like 99.8% of all enterprises in Ireland are SMEs. Nine in ten of those are micro businesses of less than ten people and nearly 50% of turnover in Ireland is generated by SMEs,” Mr Makhlouf said.

According to the ECB, more than half the people in employment in Ireland are employed by SMEs so they are a very significant part of the Irish economy.

“I find these groups very useful as they bring together lots of business people who I can listen to and get a better understanding of what sort of issues they are facing. My sense is that simply by acting as a place where they bring together different types of businesses that are facing similar issues, it actually helps them understand how to understand their own issues better.”

Commenting after the meetings, Mr Makhlouf said: “I enjoyed meeting owners and representatives of so many businesses in Cork today. It’s important that our work is informed by real-life experiences and viewpoints. We want to listen to local businesses and people about what they are experiencing in the current economy, how inflation is impacting their lives, and talking about why we have raised interest rates.

“Our job is to maintain financial stability, and to do that, we need to understand the impact of our policies on people’s lives. We are acutely aware of that impact and today’s discussion with diverse businesses and sectors will be invaluable to us.

The President of Network Cork, Ingrid Seim, described the meeting with Mr Makhlouf as a positive one.

“To have 20 businesswomen in a room with the Governor is significant. This is something that is very important to us in Network Cork, is that we are advocates for women and to make sure their voice get heard.”

She said the group were encouraged by what they heard.

“It was a very encouraging conversation,” Ms Seim said. “Despite the challenges, everyone came out feeling quite optimistic in the longer term about Ireland’s economy and the future of business. In Cork specifically, we are quite optimistic.

“The Governor revealed that it doesn’t look likely that we are heading for a recession. That was reassuring. It gives businesses the feeling that they can weather the storm and that things will stabilise and improve. That gave an overall feeling of hope to our conversation.

“We discussed rising costs, which have certainly become a challenge. A lot of our businesses are absorbing these costs at the minute. Things are hard and we all know that things are going to keep rising but the knowledge that we are not likely to head for a recession was definitely reassuring.”