Episode 141

But as we approach the end of September, from a lot of people's perspectives, be it in your personal life or from a business perspective, Budget 2027 is definitely going to be on people's minds.

We probably know a little bit about what might be coming up The next week will tell us a lot more but this night, next week, we will know the full details of what Simon Harris and Jack Chambers announce in the budget.

Many organisations are trying to get their speak in, they've made their pre-budget submissions and there's nothing sure.

Businesses and particularly small businesses need a lot of support in terms of staying viable, in terms of growth and still being here in a year's time because it has been a challenging period and that continues I know Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Bourke has said it won't be a very enterprise-focused budget per se, that maybe one in every six or seven budgets generally is enterprise-focused.

They will point to a lot of work that has been done over the past year.

But what does that mean for the very small businesses around our country? Well, the Small Firms Association says rising wages, employer PRSI, energy bills and regulatory requirements are putting increasing pressure on businesses with fewer than 50 employees.

Among its budget demands are no further increase in the minimum wage, targeted PRSI relief, a cut in capital gains tax, lower commercial stamp duty and greater support for skills and AI adoption.

There's even mention of the national training plan that is featured on this programme a few times over the last couple of months as well.

The SFA represents businesses employing up to 50 people And those size businesses make up approximately 98% of all Irish businesses and providing almost 900,000 jobs.

So a significant sector, to say the least.