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ISME at work for you
ISME welcomes passage of Perjury Bill
ISME is delighted to welcome the passage of the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Bill 2018 through all stages in the Oireachtas. We have campaigned for the introduction of a statutory perjury offence since 2017. Ireland is the last common law country in the world to pass such legislation. ISME believes that this legislation is long overdue and is needed to tackle white-collar crime and fraudulent litigation. Exaggerated and false personal injuries claims place a burden of hundreds of millions of euros annually on motorists, homeowners, charities, sporting bodies and business owners through excessive insurance costs. ISME extends sincere thanks to former senator Padraig O’Céidigh and the co-sponsors of his Private Member’s Bill, without whom this Bill would never have passed into law. Neil McDonnell, Chief Executive of ISME, said: “We are delighted to see this legislation finally passing in the Oireachtas. ISME has campaigned on the issue since 2017. We acknowledge this offence will not be a silver bullet in the fight against exaggerated and false claims, but it will signal intent to tackle the issue. For this perjury statute to be effective, there will need to be a cultural change among the Judiciary, the Gardaí and the DPP. This new legislation will be an essential weapon in the armoury against those who would make exaggerated or false claims for personal gain.” Read full details here.
BACK TO BUSINESS MENTORING & COACHING PROGRAMME
ISME will be offering our member companies a fully funded business coaching and mentoring programme. Private sector businesses based in Ireland with between 5 and 250 employees are eligible to participate in the ISME Back to Business initiative. Additionally, you must be an existing ISME member to avail of this programme.
To register an initial expression of interest, please email skillnet@isme.ie and we will be taking online applications in late August. You can read full details about the programme on page 23.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Return to Work Protocols. An ISME webinar
Friday, 13th August, 8.00am -9.30am With Katherine McVeigh B.L. Book here.
Pitch my business
Thursday, 9th September, 10.30am Book here.
ISME Regional Meetings: North West
October date TBC
PITCH MY BUSINESS IS BACK
We will be running more in Pitch my Business events as part of the Back to Business initiative in the autumn and winter. The next event will take place on Thursday 9th September at 10.30am. Take this opportunity to promote your business and network. You get 2 minutes to pitch and a slide about your company will appear on the screen when you pitch. All welcome, free registration and details here.
GET YOUR BUSINESS NOTICED WITH ISME
We offer several promotional options for businesses which include
• Advertising in The bISME –
ISME’s quarterly online business magazine, the next issue is out in October and ISME members enjoy up to 50% discount on adverting rates.
• Advertising on isme.ie - Shop
Local and Back to Business portals, free for Members and rates for non-members are available here.
• Advertising in ISME’s 2022 Wall
Planner – over 40% discount for
Members, taking bookings now, deadline date 5th November 2021
To find out more contact marketing@isme.ie
COVID UPDATES & HUB FOR MEMBERS
For advice, support or updates you can go to the COVID portal on our website. We have also developed an online Members only hub with tools and templates plus explainers and links to all government schemes, HR resources, best practice advice and supports. Access by logging into the Members Area of the website here
ISME COVID-19 SURVEY JULY 2021
We released the results of our eighth flash survey on COVID-19 in July. The survey found that 62% of respondents are availing of the TWSS or EWSS, meaning wage supports remain by far the largest liquidity solution availed of by business. 17% of those surveyed are availing of the COVID Restrictions Support Scheme, up 9% from April. 19% of respondents were availing of the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) as a self-employed person, up 3% from April. On a continued positive note, as you will see below, the number of respondents who believe their business can operate for more than 9 months has increased to 68%, up 5% from April. The number of respondents who believe their businesses will cease operating remains steady at 1%, similar to January and April. You can read the full report by clicking here.
CORPORATION TAX
In early July we wrote to the Minster for Finance, Paschal Donohoe TD concerning Ireland’s Corporation Tax (CT) rate of 12.5% and plans by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to adopt a global minimum rate of 15%. While Ireland has had a long-standing position of advocating an OECD position on CT, ISME believes Ireland must fall in line with the proposed standardised global minimum rate.
Ahead of Budget 2022 and in view of the inevitable increase in CT rate, ISME believes that it is an opportune time to review Ireland’s unrealistically high rate of Capital Gains Tax (CGT).
Neil McDonnell, CEO of ISME said: “Ireland’s Capital Gains Tax is one of the highest in the world at 33%, which results in the Exchequer yielding far less than could be available from this tax head. We believe CGT should be reduced to 25% in Budget 2022 and should be applied to productive assets only. There should also be reduced rates of CGT for assets and businesses held for longer periods of time, and indexation of assets should be permitted. At a time when Ireland’s borrowing has reached worrying levels, a reduction in CGT would have the positive effect of producing a permanent uplift in yield from this tax head.”
ISME has advocated for a reduction in CGT for some time, as outlined the Pre-Budget Submission 2022. Find out more here.
ISME’S PENSIONS EQUITY CAMPAIGN
On 1st February we launched our campaign to raise funds for a legal challenge to force the creation of a fair system for private sector pension savers. The last Public Service Pay Commission report found that while there is almost 100% pension coverage in the public sector, the overall figure for the private sector is 40%. This means that workers in the private sector who aspire to a pension even close to that of a similarly paid public sector worker, would have to surrender more than a third of their salary. To support the challenge ISME is calling on private pension holders to make a donation today. Find our more here.
CONCERN OVER PLANNED APPOINTMENT OF JUDGES
ISME contacted Heather Humphreys, the Minister for Justice and Equality in July, following calls from the judiciary for more High Court judges. While ISME recognises that Ireland has a relatively low number of judges per head of population, there is also a great deal that can be done within our legal system to reduce the administrative burden on our judges and on our Courts Service before we embark on large-scale recruitment to the judicial benches. The call for extra judges comes a week after a report from the Central Bank which showed that the courts are clogged with tens of thousands of personal injuries cases where the plaintiffs would be far better off taking a PIAB award then litigating their case in court. The Employers’ Liability, Public Liability and Commercial Property Insurance Report by the Central Bank showed that in Employer’s Liability cases worth less than €100,000, and in Public Liability cases worth less than €150,000, plaintiffs received less money through litigation than they would have from PIAB, and wait on average 2.7 years to get the lower sum. In fact, in litigated Public Liability cases worth less than €30,000, plaintiffs receive less than half the award they would get from PIAB. This effectively means that 100% of plaintiffs in the Circuit Court are losing money by litigating their action rather than accepting a PIAB award. This scandalous state of affairs demonstrates that a substantial cohort of personal injuries lawyers are acting not in the best interests of their clients, but of themselves. ISME has advised the Minister that there is no good reason not to proceed with substantial reform of PIAB, to allow it to function as a tribunal of first instance and assess injuries and make awards. ISME has also asked the Minister to press on aggressively with reform of the Occupiers’ Liability Act and the Defamation Act, and with the commencement of the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act at the earliest possible opportunity. Truth in our courts should not have to wait. You can view the correspondence here.
ISME is delighted to welcome the second stage debate on the Companies (Rescue Process for Small and Micro Companies) Bill 2021. When the lockdown measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic were introduced last year, ISME warned that the consequences for tens of thousands of small businesses would be dire. In April 2020, we wrote to the Minister for Enterprise seeking the urgent introduction of an affordable insolvency resolution mechanism for small businesses. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment immediately referred the issue to the Company Law Review Group, which, after intense work on the issue last autumn, reverted to the Department with proposals. The Department issued a public consultation, and then worked extremely quickly to publish the very comprehensive amendment to the Companies Act which is before the Dáil today. This was only possible because of a great deal of work by the staff of the Department of Enterprise. Neil McDonnell, CEO of ISME said: “We are aware that the Department is committed to an ambitious legislative timetable with this bill, pushing for enactment by the summer recess and commencement by the autumn. Regrettably for many small businesses, we will need to stick closely to this schedule if we are to save many of the small firms that are insolvent as the economy slowly reopens. The National Council of ISME extends its thanks to the Tánaiste and to Minister of State Troy for moving this bill so quickly to date, and we wish them every success in progressing it to early enactment.”
