Last week, ECB council member Klaus Liebscher was reported as saying European business was not too concerned about the euro's strength against the dollar. The ECB's remit, after all, is solely to control inflation at a level below 2%.

But the notion that the bank won't take into account a strengthening euro, and its impact on mainland Europe's economic recovery, has a whiff of bunkum.

The uncertainty surrounding what will happen to the dollar leaves many Irish small and medium-sized companies in a quandary. Last Wednesday afternoon, the dollar was trading at $1.2852 to the euro, and the one-year forward price was over $1.3112. Exporters are faced with assaults from all fronts . . . a weakening dollar, higher energy costs, higher interest rates and rising inflation.

Like a souffle, things can look great when going well, but a collapse can be abrupt and messy.

Patricia Callan, director of the Small Firms' Association, believes many small exporting enterprises are simply too ill-informed to make educated decisions about how to face a more challenging economic arena altered by a seeming reversal in US thinking that a strong dollar is in the country's best interests.

She says small companies rely on outside experts and advisers to make decisions on dealing with currency fluctuations, but that effective guidance isn't available.

"I think in general the expertise doesn't seem to be in the Irish market in relation to getting this right, " she says. "I don't know a single economist who has ever got forecasts right."

It would be easy to start picking on economists, but the best any small business owner can hope for is an educated guess. The dollar has tumbled by almost 8% against the euro so far this year. Trying to maintain accurate forecasting at that pace of change is a daunting prospect.

Still, Callan thinks Irish companies are made of sterner stuff. Those that are already exporting are "best in class", she says, and will be used to dealing with challenges.

The weakening dollar could have some beneficial side-effects. Robbie Kelleher, chief economist at Davy Stockbrokers, thinks the ECB is now more likely to raise interest rates at a more "measured" pace. That's good news for small companies saddled with debt and paying bank loan rates above the odds charged to their larger counterparts.

Indeed, for many small firms, concerns may run higher over interest rates and inflation than the dollar and they may have genuine cause for worrying.

In case businesses didn't think they were squeezed enough, Niall Dunne, financial markets economist with Ulster Bank, believes we may be heading into a period of prolonged inflationary pressure.

"People have been going around since the late 1990s saying the inflation genie was back in the bottle. I don't subscribe to that, " Dunne says.

He argues that we may be about to see prices of imports from China pick up.

Cheap imports from Asia have helped offset rising living costs in Ireland and kept inflation low within the Eurozone, keeping interest rates subdued.

With America's trade deficit continuing to spiral out of control, a drop in the value of the US dollar and a strengthening of the Chinese renminbi are welcome developments in Washington. A weakening dollar will help preserve jobs across the US as mid-term elections loom next November. All this, however, is of little comfort to Irish consumers or businesses.

On the bright side, IIB's chief economist, Austin Hughes, thinks a slightly weaker dollar is no bad thing as long as it occurs in an "orderly" fashion. That, he says, gives Irish SMEs the opportunity to focus on concerns such as "domestic inflation, being competitive and being innovative".

Meanwhile, ISME spokesman Jim Curran urges small companies to keep up to date with developments. "Talk to bank managers, talk to financial advisers and read missives from financial institutions, " he suggests.

And if you can get a crystal ball, one of those would be useful too.