Vol. 432 No. 2
80 Mr. Hogan asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment if he will give details of the role of the County Enterprise Boards; the source of their funding; if it will be solving the work of any agency that is already in existence; if he expects that the existing Leader programme will come under the remit of these new boards; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Under the Programme for Government it was agreed that arrangements would proceed for the establishment of County Enterprise Boards which will be empowered to seek funding to assist local development, the start-up of small enterprises and the promotion of tourism projects. My Department has, at my request, consulted widely regarding the best approach to adopt in establishing the boards and determining the organisation and the conduct of their development work.
On the basis of the review I have decided, with the approval of the Government, to proceed with the establishment of County Enterprise Boards in every local authority area. These new boards will have unequivocal enterprise and job creation objectives and will assume responsibility for business areas not already covered by the State industrial development agencies. The enterprise boards will prepare action plans for their own areas. While those plans can be expected to encompass a variety of measures their essential focus will be on pro-active strategies to tap the employment opportunities in their localities through: identifying and commercially developing local resources; promoting the creation and development of enterprises from within the local economy, particularly through support for local enterprise groups; and creating and strengthening networks between the local community and State agencies in the interest of mobilising and co-ordinating their energies and knowledge.
In the Budget Statement by the Minister for Finance it was announced that £25 million would be provided in funding support for the work of the County Enterprise Boards and for community-based employment programmes. The boards will have a budget at their disposal to provide assistance for enterprise projects put forward by individuals and by local community bodies. The allocation of funds as between boards and the criteria for the evaluation of project applications will be determined by a national enterprise council.
