The following tables outline the main findings of the survey

Table 1

SFA 7th Annual Business Survey Most significant problems facing small business
TOPIC	Most important single issue for individual firm	As a major business problem for all companies
Labour Costs	13%	87%
Inflation	11%	76%
Energy Costs	9.7%	66%
Skill Shortages	9.6%	56%
Red Tape/Increasing Legislation	8.6%	48%
Insurance Costs	8.4%	40%
Local Authority Charges	8.3%	39%
Telecommunication Costs	7.7%	32%
Waste, Water and Environment Costs	7%	25%
Minimum Wage	6.4%	19%
Property Rental Costs	6%	13%
Unable to Access Broadband	3.3%	9%

The analysis in terms of number of companies affected by these is as follows. The figure in the right hand column represents the number of companies affected if the results of the survey are applied to the 233,000 small companies trading in Ireland.

Table 2

SFA 7th Annual Business Survey - most significant problems facing small business and effects on a national basis
TOPIC	No 1 problem for each individual business	Applied to the number of small companies nationally
Labour Costs	13%	30,290
Inflation	11%	25,630
Energy Costs	9.7%	22,601
Skill Shortages	9.6%	22,368
Red Tape/Increasing Legislation	8.6%	20,038
Insurance Costs	8.4%	19,572
Local Authority Charges	8.3%	19,339
Telecommunication Costs	7.7%	17,941
Waste, Water and Environment Costs	7%	16,310
Minimum Wage	6.4%	14,912
Property Rental Costs	6%	13,980
Unable to Access Broadband	3.3%	7,689