Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Tuesday, 9 June 2020
Special Committee on Covid-19 Response
Reopening the Economy: Supports for Business
Mr. Neil McDonnell:
It is very difficult. We surveyed people on a sentiment basis, which can be seen at the end of our submission. We surveyed on sentiment around mortality or how long businesses are going to last on a steady-state basis. We have done this type of survey twice now. I do not want to be doom and gloom at this meeting, but I can say that sentiment and optimism was higher in the lead-up to the June bank holiday weekend than it was in mid-April. Clearly, the SMEs are a bit more optimistic than they were six weeks ago. However, if anything close to the 6% who say they will be gone within a month was to happen, we could be looking at up to 9,000 SMEs gone.