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ABOUT 2,200 PEOPLE in Ireland are starting up new businesses every month.
That is according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for 2011.
The report, launched this morning by Jobs and Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton, shows that there was an increase in early-stage entrepreneurial activity across the country last year.
Almost three quarters of those enterprising individuals expect to become employers with the report’s authors noting that while the majority will remain small, the impact – when taken together – will be significant.
About 11 per cent are engaged in medium- or high- technology sectors, a much greater average than across the European Union.
The GEM report also highlights the relative ambitious growth aspirations of about 20 per cent of these entrepreneurs in Ireland compared to other countries across the EU and OECD.
“It is most encouraging that a significant minority of early stage entrepreneurs expect to employ 20 or more people after five years,” said Forfás manager Declan Hughes.
Welcoming the report, Minister Bruton said, “It is successful businesses, not Government, that creates jobs. That is why the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs includes a series of measures to support entrepreneurs and new startups.”
“It is good to see increased numbers of enterprising individuals determined to turn difficult circumstances into an opportunity for personal and commercial success,” he added.
Gender breakdown
The GEM revealed that there are two-and-a-half times as many men as women who describe themselves as entrepreneurs.
Equality Minister Kathleen Lynch welcomed the focus on the potential of women as business owners in the report, as well as profiles of enterprising women who have recently set up businesses throughout the country.
“The challenge now is not only to get more women to start new businesses, but to encourage more of them to start innovative businesses focused on exports, growth and job creation,” she said.
Other challenges and possible difficulties facing start-ups were highlighted by the report. Hughes said the positive trends are only part of the greater picture.
The report found an increase in those who are motivated to entrepreneurship by necessity – up from 19 per cent to 30 per cent in three years.
There are also fewer investors and a decline in the amount of money being pumped into businesses.
He says there is a need to continue to improve the perceived attractiveness of entrepreneurship as a career option.
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This headline should read ” insurance company reaping the benefits of gender directive”.
My insurance hasn’t gone down whatsoever! Also under this directive can I get a refund on the €4200 I paid for my first Years insurance back in the day
It’s all about equality.
Equality not so great now ladies.
Can men reclaim the horrific car insurance payments they made in their late teens and early twenties whilst women drove off paying less than half those rates? It was pure discrimination.
So is the article complaining that there is equality now?
It seems so.
Michelle must have enjoyed all those complimentary comments yesterday, because she’s on fire this morning.
I thought it was more that insurance companies are taking advantage of the directive?
It’s about time.
Isn’t equality nice!
I suppose the usual bleaters will complain now because things are not equal enough for them…
… and perhaps post such thoughts up in the form of articles.
There are positives and negatives of equality. You can’t expect to reap the gains and avoid the loses!
Cue Sinéad giving out!
Can’t wait for the age directive so older motorists have to pay the same as younger motorists
Mine still costs €1200 a year, which I can’t afford. Even my friends who now have full licences are paying at least €800 a year.
Complete Bo#$&x. Not a claim ever my renewal quote doubled this week, I don’t recall having a sex change. Even scouring around general quotes more than last years premium.
Mine went up significantly after the gender directive, but I noticed that my older sister, who doesn’t even have a full licence, still paid less than me. So age must be a factor too. My premium has now come down again thankfully, but all savings will be lost by the time I have to renew my health insurance!
Go online to renew health insurance, big money can be saved that way
Mine went down in fact all i pay is €350 fully comp. Its great really considering it was 800 two years ago… roll on the equality movement… next i hope that ALL my fellow citizens who drive around in 2014 brand new cars and hi-aces have to pay actual income tax and have benefits stopped until they can prove income… now there’s a novel idea.
I’m amused you are envious of those who drive HiAces…
There should be a tax on excess cynicism and assuming the worst about your fellow citizens.
Good
They obviously didn’t talk to Aviva if the research is indicating an average price drop for men.
My claim trippled this week. When I rang them I was told that all insurance was going up all across the board due to more claims. I had to shop around, I got a cheaper quote only 100euro over my old quote. Insurance companies are like criminals. Charge what they like with no fear.
Seeing as this a gender directive should LBGTI persons incur more costs , on account of their sexual mis-adventures and the dangers therin …, or is gender not a social construct when it comes to health insurance ?
Sorry?
Are you suggesting a gay person sleeps around more then a heterosexual?
Go out on any Saturday night and you’ll see a heterosexual person hooks up sleeps around the same as somebody that is gay, their all human’s after all with the same urges and desires.
Gender is not the same as sexuality.ffs.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/service/advertorials/sexually-transmitted-infections-in-men-who-have-sex-with-men-msm-continue-to-soar-30086359.html , I’m merely stating a fact and proposed that perhaps a person who “identifies” as gay should bear the financial brunt if their lifestyle choice endangers their health
Don’t feed the troll/Neanderthal lads
Gay women are at a lower risk. Should they pay less?
As a gay women, I don’t think so.
They say gender doesn’t matter, yet they all ask if you’re male or female with no choice to ignore answering so I’m sceptical regarding any real change.
My Broker is charging a fee of €45 for renewal through them. I went online myself and got a cheaper quote than they got for me. A follow up call from the insurer got me another 5% off. Needless to say I’m taking care of business myself this year.
‘Gender directive’ – hate these euphemisms.
It’s not a euphemism. There really is a European Directive and it really does deal with gender. Council Directive 2004/113/EC if you’re interested.
So equal pay will be next on the agenda. Men get paid more than women in the same job so I suppose when they balance it as they have done here, the extra pay we will get will offset the hike in insurance. Of course by the same token the drop in wages for men will be offset by the drop in insurance
No they don’t
Equality, its all fun and games untill you see what it really means :)
Smoking , drinking heavily , pharmacuetical drug dependence , illegal drug use , over or under eating & depression would be factored into a quote for health cover , why not the practice of unsafe sex?
It depends on how the companies define unsafe sex? It also would depend on how they would regulate it and prove it. If people don’t admit to it, and are healthy, it can’t be proven. Unlike smoking, drug use, dangerous work etc.
have your say