Galway Independent Column - May 26th 2010

25 degrees and sunny…over the weekend we thought we were, well, somewhere else where there are cloudless blue skies and the outlook is always sunny. Beaches were busy, shops were running out of ice cream and there was a definite summer feeling from the smell of the barbecues to the glow of the sun worshippers who will never learn that it’s not ok to go out in the sun without protection.

As the now famous Baz Luhrmann monologue has it ‘If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience’.

Experience, however meandering, is one of the most valuable tools in our arsenal in these difficult times and when a group like Retail Ireland publish a survey on the retail sector we must take notice. Galway Chamber as advertised over the last few weeks is this week offering classes and seminars free to the public on matters of importance to all SMEs which includes the retail sector.

Among its findings the Retail Ireland survey results said that jobs are under threat and that landlords who have continued to reap unsustainably high rents have to cut rental costs without delay as the sector struggles. As a result of the survey they called on commercial landlords to reverse rent hikes in keeping with price reductions on the High Street, housing and day to day bills.

Rent coupled with Commercial Rates is crippling the retail sector and needs to be addressed before we lose our indigenous business on the High Street altogether. When you add the issue of access to credit into the mix, it’s obvious that something has to give, and sooner rather than later. The retail sector, and particularly its small family businesses, need to be encouraged to prosper and create employment, not encounter the brick walls of local taxation, difficult credit and impossibly high, upward only rents at every turn.

As part of SME week the Bank of Ireland will hold a seminar tomorrow evening, Thursday May 27th in the Ardilaun Hotel from 6.30 pm to 9.30 pm entitled ‘Managing your Business through Recession’ covering such topics as cash flow management, enterprise building and business diagnostics. As with all of the other events during SME week it is free to the public.

The weather forecast for the rest of the week isn’t as hot as last weekend but the sunscreen advice stands as does the advice provide free to the public during the week by Dr. Aidan Daly; Enterprise Ireland and WESTBIC; Vodafone, Bank of Ireland and Sheehan & Co. Solicitors.