The rejection of the Nice Treaty will be bad for business according to nine out of 10 small firms. A survey of 416 companies carried out by the Small Firms' Association in the wake of the referendum on the treaty found that "small business believes the result was unwelcome and will cause problems for Irish business," according to the SFA.

Ireland's failure to ratify the treaty will reduce the likelihood of further direct foreign investment into Ireland and "do untold damage to Ireland's trading position with our European partners," according to the SFA. The survey also assessed the preparedness of small business for the introduction of euro notes and coins next January. Almost 60 per cent of the companies surveyed said that they considered themselves well informed on the euro and a similar number said they thought it would have a positive impact on their business. Only two per cent felt the euro would have a negative impact. The SFA, which is part of the Irish Business and Employers' Confederation, said that the survey showed that small business was "at last gearing up for the Euro introduction".

Mr Pat Delaney, the director of the SFA said "despite an improvement since March (when the last survey was carried out) we still have a long way to go before we can be sure that Ireland will be in a position to have an efficient and effective change over to the euro". The survey found 62 per cent of respondents have allocated responsibility for dealing with the introduction of the euro to a specific member of staff. Most companies have consulted with their IT providers about the technical issues involved but only 23 per cent have asked their suppliers if they were euro compliant. The change-over will cost less than £10,000 in almost 80 per cent of the firms.