Crime Costs Small Businesses €1.35bn

An association representing small businesses has claimed crime has cost their industry €1.35 billion last year.

The Irish Small & Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) said that according to their wide reaching survey, published today, almost one in three SMEs has been the victim of crime in the last 12 months.

Although the numbers are down from 33% in 2009 the ISME said the cost of criminal activity against business had increased by 24% and added to the cost of security the total bill is around €1.35bn annually.

In it's statement this morning, the ISME said that the judiciary came out extremely poorly from their survey results, with only 3% of respondents saying the current system of dealing with criminals was effective in adequately deterring repeat criminal activity. The survey found that 67% of companies experienced more than one instance of crime in the last 12 months.

"This is an awful indictment of our judicial system," the statement said.

A spokesman for the ISME said: "For SMEs struggling to survive, crime can tip the balance from success to failure. When businesses fail, communities are deprived of goods and services. Without successful SME businesses, efforts at regeneration will flounder and employment and investment opportunities will suffer."

The ISME called for the setting up of a National Forum on Crime with a specific mandate to investigate the extent and impact of crime against business and a radical reassessment by the judiciary of crime against business.

(DW/GK)