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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 5 Nov 2002

Vol. 556 No. 3

Written Answers. - County Enterprise Boards.

Phil Hogan

Ceist:

158 Mr. Hogan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her views on the future of county enterprise boards; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20223/02]

In the period since their formation, in 1993, the city and county enterprise boards have filled an undoubted gap in the enterprise support framework. While the bulk of Exchequer funding for enterprise development is rightly allocated to businesses with a strong growth and export orientation, the great body of small and very small enterprises throughout the country are an indispensable part of the enterprise sector and also merit appropriate support.

Much progress has been made by indigenous enterprises in manufacturing and international services over the past decade. Most of the very large gain in employment recorded over this period came from small and medium-sized Irish-owned businesses in the services sector. The evidence suggests that there has been a high level of new enterprise formation in recent years.

Despite the improved business environment of recent years, many micro-enterprises still suffer from the resource and management weaknesses and limitations that have traditionally affected small and very small enterprises. The county enterprise boards have a vital role to play in catering for this segment of the enterprise sector. This applies particularly to the provision of advice, information, and skills and management development. While carefully targeted financial support will continue to be an important role for the boards, its provision must inevitably be constrained both by other demands on scarce resources and by the need to minimise the inefficient use of such resources through deadweight and displacement.

With their dual focus on enterprise and local development, the CEBs have a particularly important part to play in helping to bring about more balanced regional development. While systematic efforts are under way to achieve a better distribution of very large, large, and medium-sized enterprise throughout the regions, the infrastructural and other needs of such projects mean that they will tend to cluster around the existing large urban areas or the proposed new gateway towns and their associated development hubs.

Consequently, small and micro-enterprises will remain critically important for small towns, villages, and rural areas in all parts of the country. Enterprises of all sizes and types have a key role to play in ensuring that less developed areas can offer the spread of business, consumer and personal services needed to sustain vibrant local economies and communities. In time, a minority of these businesses will, if the national and business environment is supportive, grow and this may in turn stimulate the formation of other enterprises. A number of high-potential start-up businesses now supported by Enterprise Ireland first received backing from county enterprise boards. The boards will continue to encourage and support the establishment of new micro-enterprises, and the expansion of existing ones, particularly in the less-developed areas within their boundaries. The boards will provide the information, advice, training, and in appropriate cases financial support, which will help those businesses sustain themselves. As with its e-learning and e-commerce initiatives, the boards will actively seek out innovative ways of providing targeted support to small and very small business.

The boards will also give priority to identifying micro-enterprises that have the capability and potential for substantial and sustained growth. They will assist these businesses to identify and develop suitable market and product opportunities, and will help them develop the relations with larger companies, higher educational institutions, venture capital providers and others needed to provide a platform for expansion. They will liaise with Enterprise Ireland to ensure that, when such businesses reach the stage of development at which they are more appropriately dealt with by EI, the transition is smooth and straightforward for the enterprise.
Finally, the boards will continue to place an emphasis on their work in schools and communities to encourage and promote a spirit of enterprise. While the fruits of this work may not be apparent in the short term, it is an important part of the broader developmental mandate of the boards. The county enterprise boards have an important role to play in implementing the programmes and helping achieve the targets set out in the National Development Plan, 2000-2006. I am pleased to say that, in fact, they have exceeded their targets so far. Prior to the conclusion of the NDP, it will be necessary to review all the enterprise support services, to ensure that, going forward, we have in place the structures to achieve continued growth in all sectors of our economy, including the micro-enterprise sector.
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