Local businesses provide ray of hope amidst gloom

It seems that, every day, the news just gets worse. Faced with having to make a €15 billion reduction in the country’s deficit within the next four years, this year’s budget promises to be one of the harshest in the history of the State. This year alone, some €6 billion must be found to take out of the economy, threatening a deflationary spiral that will make it even more difficult for businesses to survive and people to hold onto their jobs. There is less and less confidence with each passing day that this Government, or any Government, can deliver the scale of cuts required to get Ireland back on track within the EU budget deficit rules by 2014 without destroying what is left of the economy. It’s not just the Economic & Social Research Institute (ESRI) saying it, the bond markets also agree and, consequently, Ireland’s borrowing costs soared to eight per cent this week. While the country does not need to return to the bond markets until 2011 to borrow, the question is now being asked: when we do go back, will the well be dry? In such circumstances, an EU or IMF bailout would be looking more likely than ever. Adding to the pall of gloom hanging over Ireland this week was the commentary from Professor Morgan Kelly of UCD who quite bluntly wrote that Ireland is now effectively insolvent with Irish sovereign debt in the same risk group as Ukraine and Pakistan, just a couple of notches above junk status. He argues that there will be a €70bn bill for the banks that will dwarf the €15bn in spending cuts now being agonised over and that every cent in income tax for the next six to seven years will go towards paying for the banking catastrophe. In other words, the Irish State is insolvent as its liabilities far exceed any realistic means of repaying them. It is difficult the people listening to this daily diet of gloom not to be sucked into the vortex of negativity surrounding Ireland’s economic travails, yet there is evidence that life beneath the radar of economic slings and arrows is actually continuing as normal as people and businesses try to make the most of the current economic conditions, such as they are. The terms 'thriving business’ and 'deep recession’ do not make for comfortable bedfellows, yet for instance, last week, dozens of local County Meath businesses came together to celebrate the fact that they are defying the downturn through a mixture of ingenuity, innovation and sheer hard work. Everyone in business knows how difficult things are right now - for some, even staying in business is a feat in itself. But the Meath Business & Tourism Awards announced in Dunboyne last week have at least managed to shine a light and illuminate the calibre of entrepreneurs and skilled risk-takers we have in this county and on the businesses they have built up over the last number of years. Indeed, it seems hard times are not necessarily an impediment to starting a business as many of the companies that we would consider global giants today - such as the Disney Corporation and Microsoft - all began when the chill winds of recession were blowing. This simply goes to show that, no matter what the economic climate, success can come when a business start-up is accompanied by a thorough business plan, plenty of research, aggressive marketing and treating each and every customer like he or she is royalty. The companies represented at last week’s awards form part of the backbone of the Irish economy and it is these firms which will help lead the way out of this recession. Many people have commented on the positivity generated by celebrating the successes of local businesses and harnessing this type of confidence will be essential for getting us, as a people, through the difficult months ahead. In World War II, Londoners referred to it as the Blitz Spirit which carried them through a situation far more difficult than that faced by the Irish people today. It is not in our nature to lie down in the face of even overwhelming odds, but to dig deep and find reserves of strength we perhaps never knew we had. Everyone has had enough of the fatalism that has accompanied much of the economic commentary of the past three years. The next several months will present a chance to change direction completely, to turn a corner and to perhaps find a national wellspring of courage, heroism and civic-mindedness - such as that displayed by successful local business-owners - which will not allow even the most difficult of circumstances to overwhelm people. Adjusting to new economic conditions will not be easy, but we cannot give up without a fight.