Businesses acrosscounty revving up for lift-off
A survey of more than 200 Wexford businesses sets out the massive impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their businesses, and the supports they are seeking to weather the year ahead.
The County Wexford Chamber Reviving Wexford survey is one of the most comprehensive of its kind in the county’s history, providing a rare window into the challenges facing business owners at this crucial juncture for the county. Completed by 217 respondents over a two-week period between April 19 and May 3, the pioneering survey was developed as part of a concerted response by County Wexford Chamber of Commerce, aimed at rejuvenating the local economy in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Among the reports many findings are that 98 per cent have said the crisis has had a financial impact on their business. 100% of respondents called for an extension of the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme, 74 per cent for a reduction or suspension of Commercial Rates in 2020, 44 per cent requested marketing and advertising grants, 39 per cent appealed for a reduction of the VAT rate to 9 per cent, 28 per cent for the lowering of bank interest rates, while 29 per cent of respondents called for additional targeted grants, rather than loans.
Report author Prof Kevin Sludds said: ‘It was created to capture not merely a percentile account of respondents’ views but more significantly, the actions which the County Wexford business community wish to see initiated. Undoubtedly it is the case given the number of businesses which have been forced to close, and the consequent large number of the workforce having to file for the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Benefit or access the Revenue Wage Subsidy Scheme, that the county as a whole has been thrust into a wholly unforeseen recession. Though consumer confidence is presently at a nadir and the economy has contracted with extraordinary rapidity, nevertheless, County Wexford has also seen a renewed awakening of core values such as solidarity, innovation and resilience.’
Prof Sludds said the Reviving Wexford initiative is a clarion call for rejuvenation around these values amongst the business owners and managers of County Wexford which the Chamber of Commerce wishes to act on.‘It’s chief goal is to guarantee the county is in prime position for the post pandemic phase, to seek effective supports and to reactivate commercial activity and life into the Model County again. Government supports such as the Temporary Covid-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme must, at this point, be extended and mirrored by resourceful ways of safeguarding other operating costs receive similar protection in the form of targeted grants.’
In the survey business owners and managers were asked to detail the assistance they believed would be required in order for the county to emerge from this crisis confidently. ‘ The particulars harvested through this process will act as the Reviving Wexford Action Plan, a report which represents the needs and action points of the local business community across core sectors of the economy.’
As the slow lifting of Covid-19 restrictions began on May 18 and runs over 15 weeks, Prof Sludds said the government needs to act on the suggestions and ideas set out in the action plan.