Government action needed on EU tendering opportunities – ISME
Last month, ISME, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association identified that billions of euro in tendering opportunities would open in the years ahead for Irish business as a result of Brexit. As a consequence of Brexit, British companies are being frozen out of the EU tendering process because they will not be EU members by the time these contractual opportunities mature.
Commenting on the FT report ISME CEO, Neil McDonnell said: “There is an onus on Government to act on these opportunities right now for the sake of the SME sector in Ireland.”
ISME is calling on the Government to act now and to take the following actions:
Provide assistance to SMEs in learning how to win international tenders
Task one government agency with an outreach programme to economic development bodies across the EU, promoting business with Irish companies
Nominate one development agency to facilitate and drive international tender consortium formation
Charge our diplomatic corps and our public servants with placing this at the top of Ireland’s list of priorities to mitigate the impact of Brexit
He added: “We cannot just sit back and assume these opportunities will fall into our laps. There are silver linings to Brexit, this is one of them. We cannot wait. Action by the government is required now”.
