Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Chairman, may I respond to the Minister of State? I agree. The opportunity and the challenge is the word "start-up". The LEOs are ramping up and are learning what they are doing. Some of them are good and some of them are not so good, but their focus is start-ups. We have the IDA bringing in business. Enterprise Ireland is working with a certain number of businesses, for example, through the high potential start-up programme. What I do not see in the Vote is funding allocated to companies that are steady state.

For example, there is an internationally traded services firm in Newtownmountkennedy, County Wicklow, which is working with a furniture manufacturer in another part of the county and exporting furniture. That firm has a turnover of several million, is in rapid ramp-up mode and is a major success story. The people there have nowhere to go to ask someone what is available. The Minister of State listed a number of schemes such as the credit guarantee scheme. Enterprise Ireland can do certain things and there may be more, but what seems to be missing from the Vote is funding to help existing companies. We are helping major foreign companies, EI is helping a relatively small number of Irish companies and the LEOs are helping the start-ups, but there is no one for the tradesperson to go to, for example, a plumber who wants to know what he or she can do to grow the business and hire two more people. That plumber may want to know if there are internship or training programmes, if there is a tax rebate for hiring two new people, or what is the gamut of State aid and support available. The company representatives I spoke to yesterday have approached EI and they have been waiting a while, but they are hoping to get an answer from EI. While the one-stop-shop is for the rest of the companies that are not high potential start-ups, companies such as the one I am referring to are not start-ups or Google-type companies.