Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 29 September 2015

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Estimates for Public Services 2015: Vote 32 - Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

1:30 pm

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

No, I believe we will seek an additional Supplementary Estimate.

On the IDA Ireland sites, as of 2015 Athlone has been completed and IDA Ireland is marketing actively in this regard. Waterford has also been completed and is being actively marketed. In the case of Sligo, planning was received in September 2015 and contractors have been short-listed, while in Castlebar planning was received in September 2015 and contractors are being short-listed. In Tralee, planning is to be launched in October 2015 and pre-qualification of contractors is under way at present. The others are at concept stage. On IDA Ireland overall, there has been a continual increase in the proportion of investments going outside Cork and Dublin. This year to date, it has been 37% versus 28% in 2011. The job numbers include the construction element and that is reasonable, as there is a construction impact from investment and these were included in the announcement. They may not be in the company itself but in acknowledging the impact on the region, it is fair to include the construction element.

We have just celebrated the local enterprise offices' first birthday party. I assure members it was an abstemious party, there was no cake or anything like that, but I consider that they are going well. The Department is trying to put through new innovations through the LEOS and I thank Deputy Calleary for his acknowledgement of the Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur, IBYE, competition, which has been very good for the local enterprise offices. They have conducted boot camps and have done good things to get out that message of entrepreneurship. We still have some distance to go. A review of the staffing is being undertaken, as is a review of the service level agreement and the Department must get to grips with consistency and improving the quality. The Deputy asked what Enterprise Ireland is doing and it is delivering training programmes to address these areas and is running these competitive funding models to give people a chance to lift themselves by their own bootstraps, so to speak, by having quality initiatives. Good things are being done, there is great morale in the local enterprise offices and although some people were critical of them at the outset, there is a real buzz. The alliance with the local authorities is the correct one and has worked. Local authorities are becoming much more focused on the need to grow enterprise within their base and it has been the right time to enter this partnership with them. They are a work in progress, and I think they would acknowledge that themselves, but some great work is going on through them.

As for the loan guarantee, obviously that must go through the legislative process. The Bill has been published and will depend on the Whips and so on. One interesting element is the Department is working with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, to ascertain how it will be possible to develop innovative products with it in which both are engaged. I note Deputy Calleary has been interested in drawing down European funding.

If we can develop models with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, we can draw down more European funding and get a bigger bang for our buck. We are not only considering this as a product, but also in terms of how to bundle the credit guarantee with other initiatives and get more products out there.

The SBCI has had a good first quarter. The Deputy saw the numbers. Some 1,600 enterprises were supported and €46 million was supplied. To be fair to the banks, there has been a 26% increase in new lending to small businesses in the past 12 months. This is the first significant recovery in such lending and is worth acknowledging. The Deputy was right to acknowledge Mr. Michael Johnson's role.

Producing the regional plans rapidly has been an ambitious programme. We will produce the remainder over October and November. We have done the midlands, south west and south east. The plans for the mid-west and west will be produced in the next few weeks. The Border region's plan is expected in late October, the mid-east's plan is expected in December and the Dublin plan is under consultation. We are taking time to develop them and to get local involvement. This is the right approach.

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