merrion street

Over five hundred small business owners and managers today attended a pilot one-stop-shop event for SMEs, ‘Taking Care of Business’, in Dublin Castle. The free event was organised by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to provide people thinking of starting a business and existing entrepreneurs with the information they need from across the public sector.

'Taking Care of Business’ brought together more than 20 State bodies in two strands with presentations in the main hall and information stands in a separate area.

Speaking at the event Minister of State John Perry said:

One of the things we find causes people the most headaches is lack of clarity about what they’re supposed to do, who they need to talk to and where to get the right information. My Department and all of the State bodies here today are committed to proactively engaging with businesses to tackle this information gap.

We want to make sure that SMEs and entrepreneurs can find the information they need from multiple sources in one place.

Attendees gained a better understanding of the key regulations affecting them and found out about advice and supports available from across the public sector. The State bodies represented deal with a wide range of areas, including:

• Tax, employment and Health & Safety obligations;
• Legal requirements for setting up and running a business;
• Requirements in areas such as food and environmental safety;
• Advice on government procurement and intellectual property;
• Assistance and supports from enterprise agencies and Local Authorities.

The presence of Enterprise Ireland, the Enterprise Europe Network and the European Commission’s Representation in Ireland ensured that entrepreneurs could also learn about how to take their businesses to the wider European market.

'Taking Care of Business’ was opened by Senator Feargal Quinn, who also chaired the first set of presentations. Heather Ann McSharry, an IDA board member and Eamonn Kielty, ISME Chairman, chaired the remaining sessions.

Speaking at the opening of the event Senator Quinn said:

This event epitomises the kind of informal communication between business and government of which we should be doing more. As a businessman, I know it can seem difficult to be fully compliant with regulation and that existing supports can be hard to find; sometimes exactly the thing we need could be available and we just need to get the right information.