General Election Clare Business Forum Debate
Ennis Chamber, in association with The Clare Champion and Clare FM, held the Clare Business Forum Debate with General Election Candidates last Tuesday the 9th of February at Treacy’s West County Hotel.
13 of the 14 Clare candidates attended and the debate focused on the business issues concerning the county. The debate was moderated by Clare FM’s Morning Focus Presenter Gavin Grace and Senior Reporter with The Clare Champion Dan Danaher
The candidates were asked how they would support business and what measures they would propose to assist existing small to medium enterprises to thrive as well as their view on foreign direct investment support. They were asked how as Clare Dail representatives how they would create employment and what areas of job growth did they see as key for County Clare along with what policies they would introduce to create new jobs to the county. The debate then moved on the the issue of providing infrastructure for County Clare and what the candidates saw as the their priorities in terms of the provision of the various types of infrastructure and how these projects should be funded in their opinion. Lastly the topic of the availability of public services was discussed in the context of what new initiatives would the candidates propose for government and public services to ensure a positive effect on business.
All candidates were given the opportunity to present their views on each topic for one minute to the range of business people in attendance. There was then a questions and answers session where they audience fielded a number of key questions relating to the various topics including the reduction of the 23% VAT rate, the funding of Local Government and Commercial Rates, Broadband, childcare for workers, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership, developing the tourism product in County Clare, and how to address the the PRSI burden as well as the lack of Social Protection for the self employed.
If you missed the debate and would like to hear it back, the audio of both the broadcast excerpt and the meeting in full are available on soundcloud.com/clarefm through Clare Fm’s General Election 2016 page http://www.clare.fm/election-2016
