I grew up in an age when hardly anyone I knew set up a business. I don’t even think the word entrepreneur was invented round my way until around 1995.

My early experiences of it were confined to my father, a self-employed builder who had the gumption to expand his business to 20-plus employees in the boom times, and the wherewithal to go and find work in Scotland and Germany during the bust times.

My mum always ruefully said the building trade was the first to suffer and the last to recover in a recession, which always struck me as grossly unfair.

Times have changed on that front. Recessions are rarer. Borrowing and other sources of investment have made setting up in business easier, teaching business studies in schools and universities has helped, and there are now role models for entrepreneurship in every community.

Our towns and cities are alive with these businesses.

There was a time soon after covid when it seemed like the world and his wife were opening up a coffee shop or truck, for instance - and good luck to all of them.

Small businesses are what keep the economy ticking over, and the successful ones employ other people to keep the money-go-round and the taxes flowing.

The large U.S companies may be propelling the Irish economy with their mega-enterprises and juicy Corporation Taxes, but it’s the flourishing small businesses that are the true soul of this country’s economic heart.

They ought to be cherished, protected, and defended at every turn. But are they?

I have long felt that running a business is a bit of a thankless task in this country. That while it must be nice to be your own boss, the headaches and........

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