Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, there is. We have conducted a client survey through Enterprise Ireland and the results are highly positive with a satisfaction rate of more than 70%. We also have carried out mystery shopping in order to have a good idea of what is working and what needs to be improved. At present, we are examining how to drive best practice across the LEO network and I am satisfied that good progress is being made. I might add that the LEOs also feed into the regional action plan implementation meetings. I have asked them to tell us where are the road blockages, what could be done better and all of that is fed into my Department. Consequently, we are quite happy with what is happening in respect of the local enterprise offices. However, I would like more money. As Deputy Quinlivan noted, some LEOs are working better than others and we want to put in place best practice nationwide.

To revert to the issue of money well spent, when I refer to the 180,000 people who are unemployed, I wish to put a lot of emphasis in the plan for 2017 on women's entrepreneurship and on getting women back to work, as well as on the long-term unemployed and youth employment. All these sectors require considerable resources, particularly in the case of the long-term unemployed and youth employment. The Department simply must get a grasp on these issues and make sure it helps people to find confidence in the first instance because sometimes they have been out of work for a long time. Moreover, some young people have never worked and again have lost confidence. Consequently, there is a huge body of work to be done and all that requires resources. LEOs and further colleges of education are excellent at getting people back into work. There also are conversion courses, as well as the new apprentice model, and I will be pushing that to make sure this happens for younger people in particular. These are the areas on which I will focus and for which I will ensure resources are made available to make sure that jobs are created.

The Deputy asked about more money for the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. Such an increase is included in the programme for Government, which allocates €200 million for the IDA and €300 million for Enterprise Ireland over the next five years. My Department will draw down and will seek this funding over the next budgets.