Daft Wins Outstanding Small Business of Year

25th February, Daft.ie, Ireland's biggest property site, was awarded outstanding small business of the year at the inaugural SFA National Small Business Awards held last night at the Berkley Court hotel. The award was given in recognition of the impact of that Daft have made on the property market while having just 5 employees.

Commenting at the awards Brian Fallon, Co-founder, Daft.ie said "It's a great honour to receive this award and to be recognised by our peers in the Small Firms Association. We have been working hard to make finding property online quick and easy. In the last year we've jumped into the first-time-buyers market and also provide online mortgages. This has seen the website's popularity mushroom and now nearly half of our traffic is from people buying their first home. We have moved beyond our core market of lettings and house sharing and now cover the entire spectrum of the property market in Ireland."

Commenting on the night An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, TD, the Patron of the Awards, said: "the importance of small businesses to the Irish economy cannot be underestimated. They represent the seedbed of innovation and creativity that have driven much of our economic development in recent years. I pay tribute to the Small Firms Association for having the foresight to bring about these Awards. Not only will these awards recognise the outstanding contribution of our small business community, they will also spur further innovation and creativity. That is critical for the future growth of enterprise in Ireland. As Taoiseach, I am honoured to act as Patron to these Awards."

This is the first time that the Awards have taken place, and were organised by the Small Firms Association, partnered by O2 Ireland and Bank of Ireland Business Banking. Awards were also presented to six category winners, who each received a €5,000 cash prize and one year's free SFA membership.

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For further information please contact:
Jennifer Mooney
053-26789
087-8336450

Notes to the Editor
Daft.ie, Ireland's biggest property site has been providing low-cost online advertising to the Irish property market since 1997 with a primary focus on first-time-buyer properties for sale, house shares and property to let.

Established by two brothers Eamonn and Brian Fallon, Daft.ie has become the country's biggest property portal with over 13,000 properties available for sale or let at any one time. The site currently delivers 12 million pages of properties a month to over 520,000 visitors. Eamonn and Brian were also finalists in the 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.