Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for tabling the question. In the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, developing a better environment for entrepreneurship is a key disruptive reform. The work of the Entrepreneurship Forum has been a valuable input to identify areas for fruitful initiative. The Department is developing a national policy statement on entrepreneurship. As part of this process, the forum’s recommendations are being evaluated with input from Departments and agencies. Already, a significant number of initiatives have been taken which respond to the forum’s evaluation.

These include the launch of the local enterprise offices, LEOs, the initiation of a competition to find and to invest in the best young entrepreneurs at local and national level, the creation of a new ICT skills strategy 2014-18, the establishment of Knowledge Transfer Ireland and its online database of innovative ideas, as well as turning those ideas that come from intellectual property through the universities and institutes of technology into new companies. In addition, a review of mentoring is being prepared by Forfás and a review of tax supports is under way for entrepreneurs. The initiatives also include an assessment of how the agencies in the Department can deliver targeted improvements in the environment for business, particularly for start-ups, and the preparation of a strategy statement 2014-16 by Enterprise Ireland with new ambitions for high-potential start-ups. There is a strong belief that the start-ups area offers huge opportunity for enhanced performance and jobs growth by the Irish enterprise sector and the Government is determined to facilitate this through a national policy statement on entrepreneurship.

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