2009
Irish Exporters Association Survey June 2009
65% of new jobs in the past eight years were created in public services and construction
A new survey this month commissioned by the Irish Exporters Association has found that over 50% of its members have made redundancies in the past 12 months. Members said that 70% of their turnover in the last 12 months came from exports and over 40% of turnover came from the EU alone.
Commenting on the survey IEA chief executive John Whelan said it was vital that the Government gives serious attention to resurrecting Ireland's export industry which he believes is central to restoring economic growth in Ireland.
While he very much welcomed the €250 million Temporary Employment Subsidy Scheme for exporters as part of the Government's new National Recovery Measures he said guidelines on how to apply for funds must be made available to exporters immediately. "The main issue at the moment is the speed at which this measure can be introduced. There are hundreds of vulnerable companies who right now are deciding whether they can afford to keep staff in work or not. Time is not on their side and any delay in the scheme will be critical for them and their workers."
"300,000 people in Ireland are directly employed in the export industry and we must fight to save every single one of those jobs".
The Irish Exporters Association leader stressed that there were two other key issues that needed to be delivered on if Ireland is to have a strong exports industry; export credit insurance and competitiveness.
"I am urging the Government to complete its work on the Export Credit insurance review as soon as possible and to enter the market with the private sector to ensure Irish exporters are not disadvantaged in their international trade finance requirements."
Regarding competitiveness Mr. Whelan said exporters were under a lot of pressure from falling consumer demand globally; credit worthiness, currency fluctuations, new regulations and rising costs.
�This is translating across the economy into a loss of export output of 13% in goods and services according to the best forecast by the IEA. This loss of output in the economy in 2009 is likely to continue into 2010 and regrettably will be reflected by a broadly similar rise in the rate of unemployment.
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For the past eight years the bulk of new jobs created in Ireland were in domestically trading sectors, with 65% of new jobs being created in the public services and construction arenas. We must now change our focus. There is no choice here, what we are talking about is Ireland's economic survival.
The solutions are not easy but we must take the first difficult steps. The Government can no longer delay unpalatable policies that will restore competitiveness, and over the medium term provide the platform for realising new growth potential.
The principal mechanism for restoring export competitiveness is a downward adjustment in pay and domestic prices. In the public finance area, it is critical that firm and decisive action is taken to decrease the major deterioration in the General Government Deficit which, if not managed is set to become a root cause of significant national economic decline.
Given the openness of the Irish economy, there is scope to benefit disproportionately from an international upturn - provided action is taken in the meantime to restore confidence.
Mr. Whelan said many other countries were chasing these markets so competitiveness was a necessity. "We must be able to compete if we are to have a realistic chance of winning business in export markets," he stressed.
"For businesses and workers, exports mean we still have a future. However, every effort is required from Government and the state sector to ensure that Irish exporters can remain in the game", concluded the IEA chief executive.
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