Mr. Tom Hayes:

The Deputy asked a number of questions. I will deal with his last question on the service level agreement first. The service level agreement will be drawn up between Enterprise Ireland and each local authority and it will set out the broad parameters of the work we expect to be carried out based on a budget which will be provided to each LEO. Much of the work they will undertake will continue in line with the work they are currently undertaking such as promoting entrepreneurship locally, helping a small business locally, and providing a range of supports in terms of management development and training. We are in the process of drawing up the service level agreement and it is very early days. It is part of the work of the implementation working group, and a broad draft of that will be available in the next few weeks.

The budgets for the CEBs will be subject to the same budgetary arrangements as those that apply to any Department or to Enterprise Ireland. We will go through that process in the next few weeks. I expect the budgets that will be allocated will be largely preserved under measure one, measure two and the administrative support that is provided to the city and county enterprise boards. The legislation is likely to be ready in the first quarter of next year. It is primary legislation and work on it will depend on other priorities, but the drafting of it will take some time. It will probably be the second quarter of next year at the earliest before it is fully operational.

Enterprise Ireland officials sit on the evaluation and approvals committee of all the city and county enterprise boards. Therefore, we are well aware of companies and individuals that are coming through and the small companies that are likely to be in a position to progress to Enterprise Ireland. While the initial priming support is provided through the city and county enterprise boards, we are quite aware of those with the potential to grow. If there is a more appropriate and suitable product or service that can be provided to Enterprise Ireland, these are fast-tracked into Enterprise Ireland. Our potential exporters unit is operating throughout the country and 400 companies have attended the various exploring workshops at which we encourage more local companies to export as that is where they can secure growth. A number of CEB clients have attended those and are now attending the so-called get export ready workshop, which is a follow on to that. There is a reasonable progression trend in place for clients to come from the city and county enterprise boards into Enterprise Ireland. Some have gone on to become high potential start-up companies.

On the so-called one to many approach, in terms of support, Enterprise Ireland has largely dealt with companies that have a staff of more than ten and the potential to export. Our focus has been very much on exporting. That is the world we have inhabited. In terms of a new model, we will have to be one to many, as it were, rather than one to few. A typical development adviser in Enterprise Ireland will have a cohort of companies that he or she will get to know quite well in terms of their business, priorities, management team, marketing priorities and financial arrangements. For the smaller cohort of companies, the types of companies to which the Deputy referred, that would be reliant to a large extent on the domestic market, our centre of excellence unit will develop supports and information that will be available to all those.

For example, in respect of our get export ready model, we examined models around the world as to what constitutes best practice and what other countries do. We should examine what other countries do and learn from that. We now have a benchmarking tool. It would be worthwhile to go onto Enterprise Ireland's website and check the get export ready option, which goes through a number of steps, including whether a firm is ready, whether it has prepared, whether it has the necessary funding, whether its product is right for the market, what kind of distribution channels it needs in that market and what the competition is doing. There is a checklist under that option. We need to develop something similar for small businesses in order that they would be able to do a self-assessment check which would signpost them in the right direction. Such a checklist would include whether they need a mentor, whether they need some further developmental support and whether they have sufficient resources. That kind of a checklist will also be developed under the centre of excellence unit. In the six months we have been operating with potential exporters, we have found that most of the work is done over weekends. These are busy people trying to do business and win sales during the week and then they can access this tool at the weekend. I expect something similar will be developed for very early stage clients and start-up businesses as well.