Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The system of local enterprise offices has been one of the major planks of the Minister's enterprise policy for the past three years. I wish the staff of the various offices well in their efforts. However, there is a fear among the enterprise community that the relationship between the LEOs and the local authorities, on the one hand, and the relationship between the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland, on the other, have not yet been crystallised in terms of people's understanding of the direction that is envisaged. The question may have been crystallised in some local offices, but it is not the case in many others. I encourage the Minister and his Department to examine how that issue might be resolved by way of training for local staff and so on.

Where stand the budgets for LEOs compared with those for the county enterprise boards? In the context of the interaction between LEOs and local authorities, will there be linkage of either funds or human resources between the two? Will the Minister indicate why investment under INTERREG is so far below projected figures?