A third of business owners across the island of Ireland have identified global politics and trade uncertainties among the top three concerns for businesses.
Business sentiment across the island of Ireland remains resilient this year, however tariff confusion is impacting confidence.
The latest All-island Business Monitor by InterTradeIreland is the first comprehensive, all-island sentiment survey of business owners since the announcement of US trade tariffs.
The survey, which is the biggest of its type across the island, collects the views of 750 business owners and managers.
The survey results reveal a clear sense of unease, with growing anxiety appearing to be directly impacting sentiment.
Both business and consumer confidence are cooling. The number of businesses citing this as a concern has risen to 21% which is an increase of 16 percentage points compared to this time last year.
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Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, InterTradeIreland’s Director of Strategy Martin Robinson acknowledged that tariffs are in part influencing sentiment.
“One third of businesses cited global politics and trade uncertainty as an issue for them and that’s something that we haven’t seen up until now. Having said that, underlying issues, over half of businesses are stable, a third of them are in growth, and six out of ten are still profitable”,” he said.
“But confidence is certainly taking a knock at the moment and I think that’s being caused in part by the tariff issue,” he added.
14% of businesses said they felt directly exposed to the US tariffs, and half of those said it was because they were either exporting to the states or sourcing from the US.
They said this in turn could lead to increase in costs or raw materials, supply chain disruptions, wider issues in the economy and the threat of recession.
The survey also asked SMEs about their approach to sustainability and achieving net zero emissions.
While over half of respondents recognised its importance to their business, only 17% currently have a plan in place, with a further 12% developing one.
“We’re getting a mixed message there. While 55% of businesses are telling us that they believe sustainability is important, when it comes to actually following through and acting upon it seven out of ten still don’t have a plan,” said Mr Robinson.
“Of those, 86% are saying they don’t intend to have a plan anytime soon and that’s gives us some cause for concern. So high sentiment, big awareness, but slow in action and follow through,” he stated.
