Before we commence, I remind Members that a Senator may speak only once on Report Stage, except for the proposer of an amendment, who may reply to the discussion on the amendment.
County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Bill 2013: Report and Final Stages
Government amendment No. 1:
In page 4, line 5, to delete “The Minister may” and substitute the following:
“The Minister may, after consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government,”.
This is a technical amendment to section 2(3) of the Bill. Section 2 of the Bill defines the functional area of a city or county council for the purposes of this legislation. One local enterprise office will be created in each local authority area with some exceptions due to the merging of some local authorities under the reform programme of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government such as, for example, in counties Waterford, Tipperary and Limerick. Section 2(3) allows for a possible reorganisation of these areas at a later date should it be deemed necessary and this would be done by way of an order by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. The amendment makes provision for consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government prior to the issuing of any such order.
Amendment agreed to.
Bill, as amended, received for final consideration.
Question proposed: "That the Bill do now pass."
I wish to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved during all Stages of the progression of this Bill through the House. This legislation is extremely important and I am delighted to see it pass through the Seanad. The reform constitutes a major commitment in the programme for Government and is a core element of the Action Plan for Jobs. In reaching this point, I thank in the first instance the Cathaoirleach, the Acting Chairman and all the staff of the House for the orderly passage of the Bill through the House. I also thank Members of the Seanad for their valuable contributions to the debate on each Stage. Finally, I thank my departmental officials for their great commitment and work on this Bill.
I thank the Minister of State for bringing this Bill through the Seanad. It is an important day for enterprise in light of the budget yesterday and the measures put in place. Obviously, however, to use the cliche, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. It is important that areas such as counties Donegal and Sligo with which the Minister of State will be very familiar must get the jobs boost that is being experienced on the east coast. However, I hope the new local enterprise offices, LEOs, will be able to do that. I spoke to a young software engineer in Letterkenny last Monday who has developed an app. He has got it to the stage at which he has travelled to Japan to get software installed and is at the final stage of its development. It is unique and represents the type of industry, company or small business that could benefit in this regard. I have advised him to contact the enterprise board because his training is in software engineering, he is working at the same time, and is spending his own savings on getting the project this far. People like this individual need the help and I am sure the new LEOs, like the old enterprise boards-----
I apologise for interjecting but as there is huge support available for that type of industry, I strongly advise him to contact the current enterprise board.
Exactly. County Donegal has the people with such expertise and they just need that additional leg-up to get their products onto the markets. Consequently, I welcome the passage of the Bill and look forward to continued help from the LEOs.
I thank the Minister of State, who has been very informative. In particular, I refer to the importance of his circulating the service level agreement to Members last week. This Bill marks an important first step in the changes that are being introduced. The particular emphasis in this regard is to ensure there is a better service to the consumers, namely, those people who are interested in starting up their own businesses. The expertise of Enterprise Ireland, the local development boards and the local authority will now be in a single one-stop shop for would-be entrepreneurs or business people. This streamlining process is most welcome and as the Minister of State noted, is part of the programme for Government. It is great to see it come to fruition and I thank the Minister of State for his advice, assistance and the explanations he gave during the course of the passage of this Bill.
As the Minister of State is aware, Sinn Féin supported this Bill and the enhanced role for local authorities in economic development. I have three brief questions to which the Minister of State might be able to respond now or alternatively on which he could revert to Members later. Can he indicate what will be the budget for the LEOs or the county enterprise boards next year?
In addition, the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation recently considered an audit report which stated that Enterprise Ireland faced severe pressure due to the moratorium on recruitment. Does the Minister of State believe the moratorium will be lifted to make available to Enterprise Ireland additional resources to take on the additional role with regard to oversight of the LEOs?
Finally, the Department set a target of 4,500 jobs to be created by LEOs next year. Are these gross or net figures?
We really are not debating the Bill now, as it has been agreed.
Perhaps the Minister of State could come back to me on these issues.
I will send the Deputy a direct reply to those questions on which I can give clarification.
I agree with the comments of Senators Harte, Clune and Reilly and wish the Minister of State well. He is always a welcome visitor to this Chamber and in itself, the circulation of the service level agreement was a nice innovation. We are always looking for enterprise and the 3,000 jobs per month that have been generated over the past 12 months are most welcome and this represents a good change. They are in exporting industries, are not dependent on fiscal stimulus or boosts within the economy and that is the way forward. While progress is slow, we must keep at it.
I also welcome the boost to tourism announced yesterday both in respect of the abolition of the travel tax and the retention of the 9% VAT rate. It is to be hoped that many jobs will come on stream as a result and that the airlines will respond.
As a brief point and to assist the Minister of State, the question is whether it is possible to design a banking system other than one based on property speculation. Did the banks lose the ability to know anything about small or medium-sized enterprises? I think they did and simply became property speculators.
Senator Quinn and I made some progress on the upward-only rents renewal Bill when it passed one of its Stages here. The objective was for the property sector, pension funds and insurance companies to bear some of the brunt thus not leave it to small industries, small shops and so on who rent the premises. We will seek that consensus again.
What the Minister has in mind is exactly right, we must build enterprise in society that is not based on an artificial stimulus in the construction sector or seek massive recruitment campaigns for the public sector, like in the past, that eventually bankrupted the country. The Minister is going in the right direction and I am sure that he has the support of all Senators in his endeavours. I thank him for bringing the Bill to the Seanad and wish him well in his endeavours.
I thank the Senator.
I formally congratulate the Minister of State for delivering this important legislation. I think it is a fait accompli which my party does not support. I felt that it was pointless to screen it, yet still wish that a good job is done. Please God, I hope that the enhanced role of Enterprise Ireland will play a significant role in LEOs.
This morning I said that the devil was in the detail of the budget. The enterprise boards have received an extra €2 million.
It is €3.5 million.
Yes, €3.5 million. I was disappointed that the budget for Enterprise Ireland has been significantly reduced, even though it has lost 16% of its staff since 2009. How will it do its job?
This year's outturn will be the same as last year.
No, it is down.
The outturn will not be finished until year end.
We have said that is a serious problem.
We are now in October but the 2014 budget will be based on this year's budget and productivity will be up.
The Minister of State has made a very good point and I accept his fact. I noticed it myself in the local authorities.
I think that we assess outturns and not inputs.
Yes. We have said that an entrepreneurial culture in the new LEOs is good but it is critical that they are adequately funded for them to do their job. They are the two key points.
I wish to make a final point even though I should not intervene. There is a ring-fenced microfinance fund of €90 million. In addition, one no longer needs a refusal from the bank before applying for funding which was a big issue.
Only 46% of people have had their applications for microfinance accepted and I believe that figure is very low.
Up to now one had to have been refused by the bank before applying.
I know that.
That requirement has been removed.
That is good.
A person can now apply direct.
At present interest rates are very high so we must help people to get going. As I said here this morning, we cannot just rely on foreign direct investment and must encourage indigenous business.
The Government has focused on small companies and start-up companies and the budget was totally devoted to entrepreneurship and start-up companies. I can assure the Senator that the Government's focus is on the domestic economy and its actions over the next 12 months will be very clear.
I ask the people from the Department to please excuse my next comment. The trade finance initiative is a weaselly bureaucratic statement and meant nothing but encouraged the European Investment Bank to invest. The initiative is pure discussion. If one did not know anything about the matter but read the statement, one would think that something was happening. The initiative did not promise to deliver anything, it was discussion only. That is fact. We need delivery.
Last week I fought for the 9% VAT rate for the tourism industry to be retained. The initiative is significant. To me, its retention was the greatest achievement in the budget when it comes to jobs and I disagree with the Minister of State.
We are not debating the budget now.
Tomorrow morning I shall lead the debate and raise the matter on the Order of Business. Finally, I wish the Minister of State the best of luck.
Question put and agreed to.
Sitting suspended at 3.45 p.m. and resumed at 4.30 p.m.