Ireland is acknowledged as a world leader in attracting foreign direct investment.

No country can match what we have achieved over many decades. Unfortunately far  less prominence is given to the role of Irish entrepreneurs in the economy despite the enormous potential for risk takers with new ideas to lead Ireland’s recovery.

Fianna Fáil will seek to address this historic under appreciation of the importance of the self-employed and Small Medium Enterprises (SME’s).

Fianna Fáil would introduce the following measures to create more jobs:

• Incentivise entrepreneurs to set up new businesses by providing relief from capital gains tax by introducing a reduced rate of 15% to entrepreneurs who subsequently sell their business.
• Ensure enterprise policy tackles the disparity in employment opportunities between Dublin and areas outside the capital.
• Reform and reduce the commercial rates structure.
• Address the lack of credit which is hampering many businesses from expanding, through the introduction of tax relief for individuals making loan capital investments to SMEs.
• Establish a pilot scheme on Crowd Financing similar to that supported by the UK government in order to give a new source of finance to smaller start-up companies
• Tackle the skills crisis. The number of people undertaking apprenticeships has fallen dramatically. This can only be met through a major expansion of apprenticeship places.
• Extend PRSI benefits to the self-employed on a voluntary basis.
• Address the disparity in tax treatment between the self-employed and PAYE sector, particularly at lower levels of income.
• Within the existing €1bn budget for job support, re-allocate resources to support progressive relief from Employer PRSI. This should be linked to growth in employee headcount.