Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 September 2015
93. Deputy Mick Wallace asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 131 of 15 July 2015 and 343 of 14 July 2015, his views on the discrepancy between the figures provided by his Department in relation to State funding awarded to indigenous private companies by the county enterprise boards and local enterprise offices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33511/15]
View answerThe Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) provide supports for their clients in the form of capital grants (so-called “Measure 1” supports) which are paid directly to companies and “soft” supports (so-called “Measure 2” supports), such as training, mentoring, and entrepreneurial capacity building, etc, where there are no direct grants paid to the companies but where the allocation is used to fund the cost of providing the service.
The figures provided for Parliamentary Question No. 131 of 15 July 2015, which was taken along with Parliamentary Questions Nos. 342 and 363 of 15 July 2015, relate to the amount of State funding allocated to County Enterprise Boards / Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) for the totality of direct grants and soft supports for indigenous private companies each year for the period from 2011 to 2014.
Question No. 343 of 14 July 2015 relates to the amount of funding paid directly to LEO client companies by the County Enterprise Boards/Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) over the same period in respect of direct grant aid only, i.e., Measure 1.
Accordingly, the apparent discrepancy in the figures quoted in the two replies arises simply from a difference in interpretation of the two Questions. Both my officials and I are willing to provide any further clarification required.
