Delivering for business in 2014

On reducing the tax burden Ibec successfully campaigned…..

• to convince the Government to end austerity budgets
• to cut personal taxes
• to ‘Stop the pension levy

On better Government Ibec successfully campaigned….

• to prevent proposed changes to our voluntarist approach to collective bargaining
• for the contracting out of employment services to long-term unemployed
• for a one-stop-shop to support SMEs online
• to establish a local division of the unified patent court in Ireland
• to reduce unnecessary barriers limiting firms competing for public service contracts

On investing in the future Ibec successfully campaigned….

• for increased investment in infrastructure projects
• for an extra 1,700 new teaching posts
• for €2.2 billion for social housing and greater use of public private partnerships
• for greater support to meet business demand for high level ICT skills
• for more leaving certificate students to take higher level maths
• for the reform of the apprenticeship scheme to deliver the skills employers need
• to double JobsPlus so that employers are incentivised to access talent from the live register
• for fairer and more coherent EU climate change targets

On extending Ireland’s global reach Ibec successfully campaigned….

• for a new “knowledge development box”;
• for the removal of the base year for R&D tax credit
• for improved personal tax rules for ex-pat workers
• to influence reform on the taxation of multinationals in the OECD work on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)
• to progress agreement of the Translantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between Europe and the US

On promoting enterprise and entrepreneurship Ibec successfully campaigned…..

• for a new Strategic Banking Corporation to provide SMEs with up to €4 billion of credit
• for the expansion of the Employment and Investment Incentive Scheme (EIIS)
• for a business environment that rewards entrepreneurs, innovation and risk taking