Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 April 2006
424 Mr. Naughten asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to increase the number of Enterprise Ireland supported jobs in the Border, midlands and western region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14945/06]
View answerThe issues of job creation and retention in Enterprise Ireland supported companies are day-to-day matters for the agency itself and not ones in which I am directly involved. Enterprise Ireland has at its core the objective of supporting and stimulating balanced regional development, in line with the vision set out in the national spatial strategy, and to maximise national resources allocated under the national development plan.
In the period 2000 to 2005, 21,413 new jobs have been created in Enterprise Ireland client companies located in the Border, midlands and western, BMW, region. In 2005, 38% or some 4,187 of all new jobs created in Enterprise Ireland client companies were in the BMW region.
Enterprise Ireland's policy objectives for balanced regional development are reflected in the structure of its funding offer, for example, funding for existing company expansion is biased towards the BMW region. The maximum grant level is higher than in Dublin and the mid-east and a higher proportion of this funding is also non-repayable. Enterprise Ireland provides a range of supports to companies in the BMW which wish to expand through increased export activity. In particular, through its network of 33 international offices, Enterprise Ireland assists companies to create and implement successful strategies for market entry, development and growth.
Through Enterprise Ireland, State support for entrepreneurship is clearly focused on the ongoing creation of new entrepreneur led business entities. For the six year period 1999 to 2005, inclusive, Enterprise Ireland assisted 410 high potential start-up, HPSU, projects of which 89 were based in the BMW region. In 2005, Enterprise Ireland supported the establishment of 75 new export focused high potential companies. Of these companies, 16 or 21% were based in the BMW region.
Enterprise Ireland's new strategy for 2005-07 places a strong emphasis on increasing even further the number of new start-ups in the regions outside Dublin and increasing the growth rate of these companies. To accelerate this process Enterprise Ireland launched, in 2005, the enterprise start programme, a workshop based programme designed to help entrepreneurs make decisions regarding the feasibility of their business ideas and give insights into the essential elements involved in creating a new enterprise.
As Ireland positions herself as a knowledge based, technology driven economy, Enterprise Ireland is working intensively with client companies in the BMW to achieve success by: investing in research in emerging technologies which can generate ideas and processes with commercial potential; assisting researchers in commercialising research to get technology out of third level institutions and into companies to realise new sales opportunities; working with clients to invest in research and development and use technology to their advantage; and assisting companies to understand technology trends through technology road map seminars that set out what opportunities are likely to emerge.
