Mr. Frank Ryan:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to attend. I am joined by colleagues from Enterprise Ireland who are present to assist the work of the committee. They are Mr. Paddy Hopkins, secretary to the board and manager of corporate services, Mr. Tom Hayes, divisional manager of micro enterprises and small business, and Mr. Eamonn May, department manager of banking relationships and growth capital.

Enterprise Ireland's objective is to grow jobs in Irish companies. For companies to grow their employment, they need to grow their sales. Export growth provides a sustainable route for companies to grow. If they win sales overseas, they will drive the growth of jobs here in Ireland. Enterprise Ireland works in partnership with our clients providing a cohesive set of supports, both financial and non-financial, to help them start, grow, innovate and compete on global markets, thus driving economic growth and employment creation. Before I go into the detail of Enterprise Ireland’s activities in 2012 and this year to date, as members will be aware, Enterprise Ireland has a key role in the delivery of the Action Plan for Jobs, first launched in 2012. Enterprise Ireland had responsibility for approximately a third of the action plan deliverables last year and delivered in full and on time the bulk of the actions assigned to it in 2012. Enterprise Ireland continues to be centrally involved in the Action Plan for Jobs this year with a significant element of the plan again falling to us for implementation. Of the 333 actions to be delivered in 2013, Enterprise Ireland is responsible for leading on 52 and will also actively contribute to a further 27.

Enterprise Ireland’s client companies created 12,861 new jobs in 2012 resulting in a net increase in full-time employment of 3,338. The positive performance of Enterprise Ireland’s client companies in 2012 was achieved notwithstanding the continuing economic challenges facing Irish companies both at home and abroad. Our client companies employ 145,460 people. The outlook for new job creation in 2013 is positive, although there remain significant challenges, particularly related to the ongoing uncertainty in international markets.

In Enterprise Ireland we understand that exports sustain and create jobs. Last year saw Enterprise Ireland’s client exports increasing by €966 million to reach a record total of €16.2 billion. It is especially encouraging to see companies recording significant gains in established markets such as North America, 20%, and the high growth economies of Asia Pacific, 17%, and Latin America, 24%, in 2012.

While companies must remain strong in their core markets, we recognise the need to continue the diversification of exports from the UK and to respond to the ongoing weakness in the euro zone economy. It is vital for the recovery of the Irish economy that Enterprise Ireland’s clients continue to win new business in high-growth economies. To this end 2013 will see a record number of ministerial-led trade missions with an increased focus on high-growth economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. This will be backed up by a wide range of inward buyer visits, market study visits, trade fairs, embassy events and knowledge seminars, all aimed at linking Irish companies to international buyers, increasing the opportunities for export and job growth for Ireland.

Entrepreneurship is an increasingly important source of growth for the Irish economy and the entrepreneurs of today will generate the employment, sales and exports of the future. Enterprise Ireland works in collaboration with other State agencies and bodies to support entrepreneurs from the initial seed idea through to financial investment in high potential start-ups. Despite the challenging economic environment, ambitious entrepreneurs, with highly innovative products and business development strategies, are continuing to successfully build their businesses and their presence in export markets.

Enterprise Ireland’s ten regional offices work closely with entrepreneurs, local development agencies and local representative bodies, such as the network of county and city enterprise boards, offering a wide range of supports for entrepreneurship. We also actively engage in creating and maintaining relevant networks that provide a pipeline of early stage entrepreneur inquiries. Our goal in these efforts is to ensure that Enterprise Ireland is well positioned to identify entrepreneurs with the capability to grow exports and employment in the economy.

In 2012, the level of start-up activity was very encouraging with a record 97 high potential start-ups, HPSUs, supported during the year. Of these, 12 were led by overseas entrepreneurs, 14 were spinouts from research and eight were led by female entrepreneurs. They are ambitious companies with highly innovative products and business development strategies that will enable them to carve out a place in global markets. They are expected to create in excess of 1,600 over the next three years.

In 2012, Enterprise Ireland continued to support very early stage companies through the competitive start fund by providing an equity investment along with an experienced business mentor to work with the companies during this crucial stage of their development. Last year there were four funding calls under the competitive start fund and focused on the ICT and industrial sectors and on female entrepreneurs. In total, 60 early stage projects were approved under the competitive start fund in 2012.

Last year also saw the launch of a €2 million community enterprise centre development programme to assist them recruit or retain a strong business development function-Manager. The community enterprise centres provide space in a supportive environment for budding entrepreneurs and serve to help the development of entrepreneurship locally in urban and rural locations. Since the launch of the new programme, 46 managers have been approved for community enterprise centres around the country.

Innovation is at the heart of all entrepreneurship, be it in a high growth potential start-up company turning knowledge into solutions or in established companies that are constantly improving their products and processes and thus their ability to compete and win sales overseas. Innovation is, and will be, central to our success and we work continuously with our clients to support them to progress along the innovation ladder.

We support companies, not just in the area of research and development, although it is a central focus of the agency, but also on process innovation such as new business model development. In 2012 Enterprise Ireland provided support of €100,000 or more for 80 companies to develop new technologies and processes that will lead to job creation and increased exports. In 2012, 798 client companies were engaged in significant research and development of €100,000 or more with over 134 companies spending in excess of €1 million on research and development.

In order to promote business innovation with the ultimate aim of creating jobs, Enterprise Ireland also works with the broader enterprise base in Ireland including foreign-owned multinational corporations and the research community where we work in close collaboration with IDA Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland. The close working relationship is demonstrated by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland’s technology centres that work to an agenda defined and agreed by consortia of indigenous firms and multinational companies. The centres tackle problems that are prevalent in specific sectors or technology areas, for example, the costly issue of energy efficiency in manufacturing operations. In so doing the centres represent the best of Irish indigenous and multinational companies’ researchers working together with academia to solve issues that are too big or costly to be solved by any one company working in isolation.

In 2012, three new technology centres were established in the areas of financial services, e-learning innovation and cloud computing. Last year Enterprise Ireland also supported the largest ever investment in research and development from an Irish company in a project that clearly demonstrates the link between innovation and growth. The Kerry Group has begun work on its global food innovation centre of excellence in Naas, County Kildare with 900 jobs. The initial investment is worth over €100 million and will be game-changing for the agrifood sector in Ireland.

The strength of a company’s senior management team is a key differentiator of success. As the needs of our companies have evolved and become more diverse, we have responded, finding new ways of building management capability in our companies. Over 100 companies have participated in Enterprise Ireland’s management development programmes so far this year, including Leadership 4 Growth, the International Selling Programme and others.

Enterprise Ireland offers a range of financial supports to assist clients through all stages of their business development cycle. The nature and level of support offered to clients will depend on the individual company’s development needs and is assessed in consultation with their development adviser.

In addition to providing direct financial support to companies, the State through Enterprise Ireland has invested heavily in stimulating and facilitating Business Angel and seed and venture capital initiatives to provide access to finance for SMEs. In May 2013 the Government launched the fourth seed and venture capital scheme 2013-18 that is valued at €175 million. The scheme is aimed at providing additional funding for high growth Irish companies with the potential to

generate large amounts of additional export sales and grow jobs. It targets an additional €525 million in funding from the private sector that will mean a total of €700 million will be available for investment over the lifetime of the scheme.

Enterprise Ireland client companies are located in every county and continue to make a substantial economic impact at a critical time in the State. Enterprise Ireland’s clients account for over 300,000 direct and indirect jobs and spent €18.9 billion in the economy in 2012.

We are keenly focused on our ongoing mission to support companies and support employment creation. Notwithstanding progress made during 2011 and 2012, in the future Enterprise Ireland supported companies will have to scale significantly if they are to continue to win out against global competition. In this regard, access to finance to fund export growth will be a key determinant of success as will the composition of the senior management teams and the leadership and ambition of the boards of emerging Irish companies.