Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are issues such as the transfer of the 50 people and the services committed to delivery in the local enterprise offices. We have met those involved and worked out the delivery expectations. That will continue and intensify as we move to the set-up process. We will be meeting all the county and city managers to drive home the opportunity and responsibility of this, and we will underpin that with the service level agreement. Most local authorities are very much aware that the future of their county depends on this. To be fair, many of them have been doing very interesting things. For example, those in Cork county hive off 1% of the rate base to support enterprise. Many counties have been doing interesting things on their own but this offers the opportunity to bring about peer review and mainstream good practices. It is about giving people a chance through the centre of excellence and Enterprise Ireland to look at what innovative local authorities are doing. Part of the budget will also be on a competitive basis, so the local enterprise offices offering to do more interesting things will have access to additional funds.