John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to address with Mr. Ryan the proposal to amalgamate county and city enterprise boards within local authorities through the establishment of local enterprise offices. I voiced my concern about this on the floor of the Dáil and I am surprised others have not raised it. My experience of local authorities and their association with the commercial world is not good. The last place local enterprise offices should be placed is within local authorities. A professional culture does not exist in these organisations and enterprise boards should not be put anywhere near them. There are advanced plans to have the Leader groups around the country do the same thing. Enterprise Ireland is associated with this. What will its role be? How will Enterprise Ireland guard against the very anti-commercial culture that exists in some of the local authorities seeping into these incredibly valuable organisations to affect the creation of start-ups?