Almost nine out of ten senior Irish executives believe a hard Brexit is inevitable, a new survey reveals. Executive search firm Merc Partners spoke to 275 top Irish business people across a range of sectors for its annual Executive Expectations report. Among the findings, 85% said they now believed a hard Brexit is inevitable. For the first time since the survey began in 2012 less than half of those surveyed said they thought the prospects for the Irish economy were better for the year ahead than they were over the past 12 months. But at the same time, 54% said they anticipated hiring more staff this year.
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Ruth Curran, managing partner with Merc Ireland, said the company - in conjunction with Amárach Research - has for the last six years engaged with Irish senior executives to explore the elements they believe are important for the continuing recovery of the economy and the issues that are critical to them for decision making. Ms Curran said that for the first time the survey is showing some perceived threats to the economy. Brexit is seen as the biggest threat while the Donald Trump administration in the US is also a cause of concern for company bosses here. 47% of executive believe that the prospects for the Irish economy are better now compared to 12 months ago, with 30% of respondents believing prospects for the year ahead are negative. 23% of bosses believe the prospects will remain the same.
Overall, Ms Curran said that the optimism is still there with employment prospects remaining strong. She noted that over half of respondents believe they will employ more people this year than they did last year. She said that despite growing worries about the lack of housing here, Ireland is still attracting a lot of investment as it still remains a very attractive place in which to live, with good quality of life, good education systems as well as a strong entrepreneurial culture which is attractive to inward investors.
Today's survey also revealed that 91% of executives support the idea of an auto enrolment pension scheme, while Ms Curran said that pay levels will continue to be a feature of boardroom discussions.
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