CONCUBHAR Ó LIATHÁIN
A LEADING Irish authority on enterprise believes that the COVID-19 pandemic could lead to a reset of the Irish economy with a greater emphasis on supporting local ventures whose priority is to make life better for the community ahead of boosting their own profits.
Dr Finbarr Bradley, the Cork born founder of Fiontar-DCU, a school for budding entrepreneurs in Dublin City University, gave an upbeat analysis of the prospects for the Irish economy against the backdrop of ominous warnings from the Central Bank and think tank, the Economic Social Research Institute.
COVID-19 has dealt a huge blow to the Irish economy with more than 300,000 workers being laid off in a month and economic activity stopped in its tracks.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar characterised the Irish economy as having entered a deep sleep and the hope is that it will wake up when COVID-19 is no longer the dominant factor and shortly thereafter be functioning at the same level as previously.
According to Dr Bradley, there needs to be a rebalancing between the former priority of successive Governments to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) with a new focus on supporting fledgling indigenous enterprises.
He has identified the weekly €350 payment for laid off workers as the basis for a seed fund for supporting the same people to start up their own local enterprises once the COVID-19.
“People with an idea could get together and with the support of the weekly payment, even twice the payment up to €700 every week, set up their own enterprises,” he said.
“The priority would be to support the local community, offer goods or services that are needed, and generating huge profits would be secondary/
“In the early years of the last century when the cooperative movement started up and even in the speeches of Michael Collins and Eamon De Valera, there was a focus on self sufficiency and community.
“While there’s no one talking about going back to comely maidens dancing at the crossroads, the overall emphasis on community and self sufficiency which was in that speech and others is something which needs to be supported more.”
Dr Bradley, who now lectures internationally to university students and, in the COVID era, is being sought for online classes in enterprise related subjects, believes that the current crisis has exposed fundamental flaws in the capitalist/neo-liberal model that says the market will sort itself out.
He also believes that the elevation of the self made millionaire as the ‘ hero’ of society will take a back seat to the regard that will be given to people who help their communities.
“COVID-19 has pressed the reset button on the world economy and it’s not like pressing pause and pressing play again once it’s all over and everything will soon be back to normal.
“There are fundamental questions that need to be answered about how people will behave after this is all over, will they go back shopping and going on holidays immediately or will they be so battered and bruised by this that they will stay at home and hoard their resources.
“What is becoming clear is that local is becoming more important to people than global and that this is how they will re-prioritise their lives and preferences after this is all over.
“Previously they might have been looking at the price and going with online providers like Amazon and the likes – now they see the local shopkeeper in a new light and say that maybe it’s worth paying a little more and keeping that shop in business because they offer a service which benefits the local community.”
WHAT IS BECOMING CLEAR IS THAT LOCAL IS BECOMING MORE IMPORTANT TO PEOPLE THAN GLOBAL
One thing that Dr Bradley pointed to the LEADER scheme as a possible basis for the future direction of local investment by the Government though he sounded one warning note:
“It has to be free of the stranglehold of bureaucracy that the likes of LEADER seems to be characterised by, the Government should give people the money they need and let them get on with business rather than asking for detailed reports on how every cent is spent.
“In my estimation, 90-95 per cent of people want to do the right thing, they want to work and contribute to society and the likelihood that some will take the money and put their feet up and do nothing is marginal.”
As far as Dr Bradley is concerned, Irish society – indeed the world economy – has come to a fork in the road and a great deal hinges on which direction we take now.
He’s not too confident, though, that the Government, under pressure as it will be from global economic forces anxious for business as usual, will take the right option.