THE QUESTION:
The Question: Is Ireland set for an influx of overseas entrepreneurs?
The business permission scheme, which has been in existence for more than a decade, received 411 applicants from foreign entrepreneurs between 2008 and May 2011, some 218 of which were approved, 172 refused and 80 abandoned, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter told the Dáil in response to a parliamentary question by Fine Gael colleague Eoghan Murphy.
Even with Ireland’s turbulent economy and frozen banking sector putting overseas-based business people off the Irish market - for understandable reasons - the numbers suggest room for improvement. On Tuesday, the Minister decided this was the case.
The scheme will now be overhauled so that it is less restrictive for foreign entrepreneurs to create jobs in Ireland, with the streamlining of the system expected to be particularly beneficial in the tech sector. According to Murphy, this is critical to prevent a drain of entrepreneurs overseas. “We need to get that spirit of enterprise back. And we need help from abroad to do that.”
He’s proposed changes such as reducing the funding requirement for potential start-ups from €300,000 to €200,000; allowing business partners to apply as one entity under the scheme; eliminating bureaucratic duplication by centralising the application process; and reforming the vetting process. The Department of Justice would appear to be in agreement with Murphy’s proposals in principle, at least, and a new scheme is promised before the end of the year.
$3.4bn
The sum that US airlines collectively charged in baggage fees last year.
Status Update
Smoking fightback:The US tobacco lobby argues that it is unconstitutional for the government to require cigarette packs to carry images of corpses and cancer-ridden lungs.
Brewery trouble:Foster's has rejected a £6.2 billion (€6.99 billion) bid by SABMiller, claiming the offer undervalues the Australian beer, which fewer Australians drink than you might think.
Share alike:Nick Clegg has proposed giving every British citizen shares in state-owned banks Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds, creating a "people's banking system".
Dictionary corner: 'Support fatigue'
You know what it’s like when you’re rich – you just give and give and give, but sometimes it feels like the other guy is all take, take, take. It’s the same with countries.
Repeated wars, famines, natural disasters, or a combination thereof, can lead to what’s sometimes known in the charity sector as “donor fatigue”, and might otherwise be called humanitarian ennui. And so with Europe’s “worst crisis since the second World War” manifesting itself on the streets of Athens, EU monetary affairs commissioner Olli Rehn explained the weary stalemate. “The reform fatigue is visible in the streets of Athens, Madrid and elsewhere, and so is the support fatigue in some of our member states,” he said.
Who could he possibly mean?
Shop talk
Apparently it was National Cycle to Work Day on Wednesday, although whoever decided that clearly forgot to consult the weather gods as, in Dublin at least, it was bucketing down. But who cares about climate-related misery when there’s a tax break to be had?
According to a survey of 111 bike retailers by One4all Bikes4work, nine out of every 10 pedal peddlers reported sales growth in 2010 as a result of the previous administration’s Cycle to Work scheme.
In most cases, retailers reported that the scheme had introduced cycling to a new audience and resulted in the positive knock-on effect of relief-availing customers buying extra bikes for family members.
No one can predict where this historic decision will take us.
– Dismantling the stock markets? Bringing human rights to all? Um, no, it’s Rod Beckstrom from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers on letting websites choose whatever domain suffix they want.
