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

There will always be issues around resources. That is true of every Department, and my Department manages resources as best it can.

On the balance between IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, the latter receives a larger capital allocation as it is a much larger agency than the former. That we spend more on Enterprise Ireland than on the IDA is as it should be. The former has capital programmes of its own and supports research spending in a number of areas. Unlike the IDA, it has a large team spread across a range of areas. For example, it provides Lean programmes and management development programmes. The IDA, which does not provide such programmes, has a responsibility for property across all of the agencies. For this reason, it receives allocations in respect of property activities that span both agencies. Favouritism is not shown towards any particular agency. It is recognised in the establishment of both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland that the challenges facing Irish-owned enterprises are not the same as the challenges facing overseas enterprises.

Both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland are growing apace, having both recorded very strong years in terms of employment performance. In 2013, Enterprise Ireland exceeded the export target it had set itself for 2015. I am satisfied that the programmes funded by each of the agencies are strong. I expect Enterprise Ireland to consider collaborative activities and new ways of funding activity to have a greater regional impact. As the Deputy is aware, I would also like the IDA to focus more strongly on regional strategy in its strategy statement. Both agencies will shortly produce strategy statements that will reflect a much stronger regional focus. Such focus is also reflected in our initiative to have a regional enterprise strategy in each region.

We are trying to squeeze the best out of the resources available to us. The matter is not as simple as reducing the allocation to the IDA or increasing the allocation to Enterprise Ireland. The Department will fund innovative programmes and companies with ambitions to grow, regardless of the sector in which they operate.