ABSTRACT
Unemployment has been a persistent feature of the Irish economy since independence and the recent recession has exacerbated the scale of this crisis. The persistence of the unemployment problem coupled with the drain of actual and potential entrepreneurs during the long period of large scale net emigration indicates that the adaptiveness to economic change is slow and points to the need to address entrepreneurial capability as a key limiting resource. Is the business climate insufficiently rewarding? Do Irish people lack entrepreneurial capacity or does society not legitimise entrepreneurial behaviour by according a low social status to the entrepreneur? Is the structure of industrial incentives and fiscal allowances optimal for stimulating manufacturing entrepreneurship? This paper reviews temporal, spatial and sectoral trends in indigenous new firm formation and presents some evidence on new firm founders and the characteristics of their firms. The role of public agencies in the delivery of policy is briefly assessed and the nature of the Irish socio-cultural background as a seed-bed for entrepreneurship is discussed. Finally, State policy measures for the small firm sector are critically evaluated.
