asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he will further elaborate on the Taoiseach's statement in Thurles on 15 August, 1967 in regard to present testing in selected pilot areas of a small industries programme, and his reference to the formulation of a full scale industries programme next year; and if he will state the areas and the type of small industries he has in mind.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Small Industries Programme.
142.
Details regarding the Small Industries Programme which I initiated towards the close of last year have already been announced. Briefly, the scheme is designed to provide an integrated range of services to small industry. These services will cover the financial, managerial, technical and marketing fields. The scheme was initiated on a test basis in three selected pilot areas, namely, Carlow-Kilkenny, Limerick-Clare and Leitrim-Roscommon-Sligo. There has been no rigid definition of what constitutes a "small" industry but for administrative purposes it will be deemed to be one employing not more than thirty workers. The staff to operate this scheme commenced the work at the beginning of April and I am glad to say that the experience to date has confirmed the view that small industry has a place in our economy and can play an important role in the national growth.
It is envisaged that at the end of the test period of about eighteen months it will be feasible in the light of the experience gained during the test period to formulate plans to extend this programme to the country as a whole. It would not be proper for me to endeavour to anticipate the lines a long term scheme will take.
The Minister may be aware of a survey undertaken in West Wicklow the results of which, I think, were presented to the Minister for Finance. Could he give some consideration to the possibility of establishing one of the pilot schemes in the West Wicklow area?
I might mislead the Deputy if I indicated this was likely to happen during the test period. The Deputy will appreciate that there has been a good deal of pressure on me from various sources to extend to different parts of the country, but that would defeat the object of the exercise which is to make it a pilot scheme in which we will learn by mistakes which we know we make. As I say, I would mislead the Deputy if I held out any hope it might be extended. The only hope I can hold out is that the period envisaged for the test is not too long and we intend providing a scheme for the whole country at the end of that period.
I appreciate that, but the Minister will in turn appreciate the fact that a great deal of background information of a very useful sort is contained in the survey to which I refer, and I thought it might make it easier to establish a pilot scheme there than in other areas.
This is true, but the Deputy can feel assured that because that work has been done, when the scheme is extended to the rest of the country it will operate more effectively there perhaps than in other areas.