Budget 2023: Dublin Chamber welcomes measures to tackle tight labour market  

Tuesday 27th September 2022: Dublin Chamber, representing 1,300 firms across the Greater Dublin Area, welcomed measures to improve the tight labour market in the region, including the near trebling of the universal National Childcare Scheme and measures to boost housing and penalise vacant property.  

“The CSO estimate that there are over 58,000 women who could potentially be in a job, but are not in the labour force,” said Aebhric McGibney, Director of Public & International Affairs. “We believe that the boost to cut the cost of childcare will help bring these people into the many employment opportunities firms have an offer but are currently unable to fill in a tight labour market.” 

Aebhric McGibney continued, “While there is a number ‘big bang’ cost of living measures in this budget, it will make tangible progress on a broad range of challenges facing Dublin. The continued investment in housing, transport, training and education are particularly welcome. We also welcome the Vacant Property Tax and the progress made on the Residential Zoned Land Tax to penalise vacant sites that can be used for accommodation. 

“On the enterprise front, the reforms to KEEP, the share option scheme for employees of unquoted SMEs, will help boost liquidity for those allocated shares and the acceleration of R&D tax credits for SMEs will boost the cash flow of these firms and help stimulate further investment in research and development. However, more could have been done here to boost the competitiveness of Irish enterprise versus the UK and support investment in small firms.” 

“While it is important to support businesses to manage higher energy bills, through direct Government intervention this winter, Government needs to tackle the root causes of rising energy costs, helping business to make a transition to a lower carbon or energy efficient model to ensure that energy costs remain manageable in the longer term.” 

-ENDS- 

Note to Editors: Dublin Chamber is Ireland’s largest chamber of commerce with over 1,300 member companies. It is the most broadly-based business group in the Greater Dublin Area, providing representation and networking services. Its policy work focuses on developing the Dublin region’s infrastructure & transport, promoting competitiveness & sustainability, and improving local governance. Dublin Chamber is also one of the oldest chambers of commerce in the world, tracing its origins back to 1782. 
 

For further information, please contact: 

Órla Mannion | Senior Public Affairs Executive | Dublin Chamber | orla@dublinchamber.ie