Billionaires cash in as small Irish businesses face a bleak winter

THERE is no doubt about it – money follows money. While the rest of us were wondering about how we might balance the family budget, there were at least three Irishmen who didn’t have a care in the world regarding that last week.

Barchester Healthcare sold recently to the American fund Welltower for approximately €6 billion, meaning that the three largest shareholders and principal beneficiaries of the sale are JP McManus, John Magnier and Dermot Desmond.

I suppose it is irrelevant that the three men in question are already billionaires; they won’t say no to an extra few bob in their pockets. But to give credit where it is due, all three individuals already have connections with various charities that have benefited greatly over the years.

In fact, as a result of the sale of Barchester, it became known that the company donated over €200 million to the shareholders’ charities over the years, so we should applaud their good fortune as a result of the sale, rather than do what we Irish do best: moan about how some people have all the luck, while others don’t.

Then I heard before the weekend that another extremely wealthy individual, in fact the richest man in the world, namely Elon Musk, has created another little bit of history: he is the first to negotiate a deal that will see his pay packet increase to €1 trillion if he hits certain targets over the coming ten years.

Nice going, considering earlier this year, when he was head, neck and heels in it with Donald Trump getting rid of federal government employees left, right and centre, his board of directors at Tesla were a little concerned, to say the least, about how the company’s stock was performing.

Like politics, a week is a long time in business. But on the flip side of things, it can also result in some people losing everything they have, as it appears will happen to some independent operators of the now defunct Fastway courier company.

One such individual spoke about how, after attending a meeting where he was told there was little or no chance of him getting back any of the €40,000 he is owed by the company, he declined to pay €4 for a cup of coffee because he knew he really couldn’t afford to do so.

Equally, he couldn’t afford to put diesel in his van to bring the last few parcels he had in his possession back to the company depot, because he knew there was no way he was going to be paid to cover his costs, never mind his time and effort in doing so.

All he and his former colleagues can look forward to is a rather bleak Christmas for themselves and their families, now only a little over six weeks away. I’m sure they have a lot more to worry about than just putting a turkey on the table.

While on the subject of turkeys, wouldn’t your heart go out to the breeders of turkeys as, like one farmer in Carlow experienced last week, seeing their entire business being destroyed. There may be a shortage of fresh turkeys in a few weeks’ time – who knows – but I’m sure there will be enough to satisfy whatever needs arise.

But there is something very important which we should all remember – our shopkeepers, who have gone to great lengths and expense in many cases, now need our support to ensure they won’t be forced to close their doors early in the New Year.

We have had enough closures over the past 12 months and, while some were totally unavoidable, there were others that could have been avoided. I’m fed up listening to people moaning about the fact that their favourite shops, restaurants and pubs have closed over the past year. Yet ask them when was the last time they spent money in those places and they would be hard pressed to put a date on it.

Businesses cannot live on fresh air or good intentions; they need hard cash to cross the counter in order for them to pay their staff, utilities and whatever else is thrown at them.

Online shopping is a fact of life nowadays, but it shouldn’t replace high street shopping either. There is nothing worse than going for a walk and looking at all the empty premises and remembering a time when they were thriving businesses, as well as places where you met people, exchanged pleasantries or a bit of gossip.

Maybe I’m living in the past, but there are times when there is nothing wrong with that.