SMEs are the employers of an even higher majority of the labour force in the construction, services and distribution sectors of the Irish economy.4 Small businesses are present in all sectors in the Irish economy delivering the goods and services we rely on in our daily lives. SMEs are currently operating in a very difficult and uncertain environment.
So, negative expectations can lead to lack of investment and a rush to quality which in turn harms the real economy and that again feeds back to the markets. It may well be – I think it is likely – that the present skepticism is an overreaction just as the exuberance of the years leading to 2008 was an overreaction.