Ms Patricia Callan:

On the point about stimulating demand, as I said at the outset the biggest issue in this regard is to have clarity, confidence and knowledge about what the plan is. That is fundamental. From the business community's perspective in terms of stimulating our investment and looking at expansion, notwithstanding the absence of customers there are the problems of credit and credit flow that were mentioned earlier. To refer back to the tax measures that could help, we believe it is important to introduce a roll-over type of relief in the budget whereby we can incentivise entrepreneurs who sell a business to reinvest in another business. That will help in terms of investment finance for new start-ups, which will be critical for creating an enterprise culture as we move forward. We propose moving to a VAT cash receipts basis. We understand that moving from €1 million to €2 million is no problem with the EU and can be done straight away. It would massively impact and help companies with their cashflow, which would allow them to invest more which, hopefully, will build confidence.

We also believe there should be specific examination of releasing personal pensions. It is ironic that when owner managers put money into a pension pot when they could afford it, they were allowed to invest in property and equity but not in business. It is an absurd system. Either changing the system or allowing the early release of those non-essential funds is critically important. From the business community's perspective in terms of confidence, it is very much about its ability to invest and expand. For customers, it is about messaging, clarity and knowing where we are going, which is somewhat unclear.