Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 February 2022
8. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the level of funding provided for his Department and for the agencies under the remit of his Department for the development of enterprise centres in 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7063/22]
View answerThe development of enterprise centres and the development of workspace through enterprise centres has been particularly important in supporting the creation of employment. The counties I represent, Cavan and Monaghan, have benefited from such developments. We all know of one- or two-person businesses that went on to be major national and international companies. We now need a new approach to the development of workspace and enterprise centres. We need a dedicated fund and we need substantial support to be channelled towards incentivising the private sector and/or supporting our local enterprise offices, LEOs, and local authorities.
I thank the Deputy for his question and for his support for enterprise centres and the general principle of investing in and strengthening them. I spent a day recently in counties Cavan and Monaghan and saw the benefits of investing in enterprise centres and enterprise teams in those counties and indeed, throughout the country. I acknowledge the work that is being carried out locally through the involvement of the local authorities, the LEOs and all involved in running enterprise centres, digital hubs and so on. They can work extremely well and the Government is keen to target investment and to match taxpayer's money with private money, local authority funds and other funding to get the full benefit of these centres.
Enterprise centres provide important infrastructure for entrepreneurs and are an essential part of the start-up ecosystem across Ireland. The centres, many of which are regionally based, provide space, mentoring and support to start-up founders and teams, helping them to scale internationally. They assist companies with growth strategies when businesses want to expand and move out of the back yard, the house or the small office.
To date, my Department has provided funding of €250 million administered by Enterprise Ireland to support the establishment of 270 enterprise centres throughout Ireland, of which approximately 40 originated from the regional enterprise plans. This investment has enabled the establishment of physical space for entrepreneurs, start-ups, scaling companies, SMEs and a balance of small scale foreign direct investment, FDI. This has enabled the delivery of enterprise relevant programmes to companies and the provision of physical spaces to support remote working. Again, the conversation we had in Cavan and Monaghan was around the need for more physical space and proper work solutions. That is something we want to work on through the regional enterprise plans and the funds have been confirmed for that.
Since 2017, Enterprise Ireland has administered departmental funding to 91 projects totalling €16.4 million under both the regional enterprise development fund and the community enterprise centres schemes. On 20 November 2020, €8.24 million in grants, administered through Enterprise Ireland, for 95 enterprise centres around the country was announced. This funding will ensure that these enterprise centres, many of which have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, can sustain their businesses, pivot and further develop their services to continue to assist the development of our start-up companies.
Currently, an Enterprise Ireland open regional development feasibility fund is available to promoters seeking to scope out and investigate the viability of larger full-scale projects such as remote working hubs.
I thank the Minister of State. We had very good meetings with the Cavan and Monaghan LEOs and the local authorities as well. The Minister of State knows the topography of Cavan and Monaghan and knows that the development of sites there is very expensive. I and other public representatives supported Cavan County Council on one particular project. The council drew down limited Government support to develop a site, service it and make it accessible through building access roads, just to enable buildings to be put in place. The council got less than €1 million in support. We hope that buildings on that site will, in the future, enable the creation of more than 300 jobs. That would be a very significant return on a very small Government investment. The local authority had to put up very substantial funds itself, funds that it does not readily have. Local authorities in places like Cavan and Monaghan have a very small rates base and they are stretched in terms of coming up with matching funding to draw down very worthwhile Government support for different schemes.
We need a dedicated fund that would incentivise the private sector and-or enable local authorities and LEOs to provide the workspace directly in the enterprise centres themselves.
I note the point the Deputy raised. I recall reviewing that site and agree that there is great potential there to create jobs. The Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Rural and Community Development are very keen to develop working spaces, sites, office space and factory space for those who want to create jobs. We are determined to have a jobs-led recovery as we come out of Covid. We can achieve that but it means that we have to support those who are involved in creating jobs and part of that involves property solutions.
The funding that is available through the regional enterprise plans, through both Departments and various development agencies, in conjunction with local authorities, can help to achieve this. Mechanisms are available to find the funds that are needed to develop sites. I recognise that in some counties local authorities do not have the rates base to support ongoing investment in the delivery of sites. However, the town centre first approach is relevant and other incentives are available. There are mechanisms there to achieve this and we have to try to join up the dots. I am determined to work with the Deputy and the local authorities in Cavan and Monaghan to achieve that. I am also conscious that in some parts of the country, commercial property is expensive to develop and without the intervention of the State through these schemes, it might not be possible to create the space needed to create jobs. We will continue to work with the Deputy on that.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. In respect of the provision of workspace in enterprise centres, there is a market failure in that developers will not construct such workspace in areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan because they will not get the rent return. That is the information available to me and that analysis is supported at official and private sector level too. We need to support the local authorities to a much greater extent in opening up lands and developing services. Then we need a dedicated fund to put in place the workspace.
If we are to further develop jobs at local level, we need work clusters. In many instances in my two counties, there are businesses that started on byroads and along laneways. Now, with the emphasis on protecting the environment we want to see as much of our employment as possible clustered in our towns and villages. There are great opportunities ahead to develop small clusters and small industrial parks that will provide the necessary work space for the persons starting off a business who do not have the capital to provide their own enterprise centre or workspace. We should have a new beginning in funding the development of enterprise centres.
The Minister, the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and myself hope to launch regional enterprise plans during February. Part of that will be funding a range of actions in different counties along the concept outlined by the Deputy. I think we are launching one in Cavan. That gives an opportunity through the funding set out, which is quite substantial, over the next four or five years to fund those three-year plans. Actions are being put forward that would achieve what we want to achieve. I agree that in some of our counties it is not viable to build some of these commercial units based on the rent base that could be achieved for them. There is a similar difficulty with housing in some parts of the country. That is why the State stepped in to close that gap through a range of schemes. It is a similar approach. Working with local authorities we can achieve an outcome and delivery of property solutions for jobs. There are some cases where a developer will not allow it if they cannot get their rent. Why would they? Likewise, we have to bring forward actions. I draw the Deputy's attention to the regional development feasibility fund, which is worthwhile in encouraging any private sector companies that have an interest in developing a remote working hub or office space to look at that first to bring forward a project that we can then find funding for.
