LK Shields survey finds ‘red tape’ obstacle for Irish businesses

One in three Irish businesses cite “red tape” as an obstacle to recruitment, growth and innovation, according to a survey conducted by corporate law firm LK Shields.

The firm’s inaugural Red Tape Survey, launched at a special event in Dublin’s Merrion Hotel, found that 85 per cent of respondents believe the cost burden associated with business regulation in Ireland needs to be reduced.

The survey received responses from 300 large and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) across all sectors, including the service, retail, finance, manufacturing and construction industries.

Over 80 per cent of businesses surveyed employ between 25-99 people, while 9 per cent employ 100-249 and 8 per cent employ more than 250 people.

Its findings, published in full on the LK Shields website, include:

“We acknowledge and support the necessity of robust regulation in all business sectors, but we also firmly believe that much greater efficiencies can be achieved without letting regulatory standards slip, particularly when it comes to the administrative burden of compliance.

“Our Red Tape Survey will hopefully spark much-needed debate and action to resolve the issues highlighted.”

Aidan Sweeney, senior policy executive of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation (Ibec), added: “Ibec believe there is unnecessary regulatory and administrative costs to conducting business in Ireland.

“The European Commission has estimated that the cost of regulation on the Irish economy is equivalent to 2.4% of GDP – or €4.5 billion per annum.

“We are calling on policy makers to introduce concrete priorities in the next programme for Government, including the introduction of a new national legislation database to track development of all new initiatives through the policy making stages.”