Mr. Leo Clancy:

I welcome the opportunity to be present here today and to assist the committee in its examination of Enterprise Ireland’s financial statements 2021 and its area of particular interest in relation to funding for local enterprise offices, LEOs.

Enterprise Ireland’s purpose is helping Irish companies to start, grow, innovate and win export sales. We work with internationally focused Irish enterprises across all sectors of the economy, most of them small and medium enterprises, supporting them to strengthen their competitiveness and productivity, increase innovation, and realise their growth potential, contributing to employment and economic growth across all regions. We also work with the network of 31 local enterprise offices through our centre of excellence to support the growth of micro-enterprises across the country. The local enterprise offices are at the very heart of business development and entrepreneurship in towns and communities right across the country. The local enterprise offices sit within the remit of the local authorities and carry out their functions on behalf of Enterprise Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment through an agreed service level agreement with each local authority. Local enterprise offices operate with a broader set of clients - from individuals considering whether to start a business through to those having initial success in exporting - through a set of financial and non-financial supports. Between local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland, we offer a continuum of service for Irish-owned enterprises.

In 2021, 4,265 Enterprise Ireland-backed companies employed 207,894 individuals across Ireland, generated €27.3 billion in exports and directly invested €9.79 billion in the Irish economy in the form of wages and salaries, as well as €15 billion in materials produced in Ireland and €6.4 billion in Irish services. Some 68% of the employment from this space is outside Dublin.

In 2021, continuing from a very difficult year in 2020, both Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices were very focused on assisting clients with managing the negative consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some €154 million of Enterprise Ireland’s budget in 2021 was allocated to fund Covid-19 response supports for businesses such as the sustaining enterprise fund, the online retail scheme, the accelerated recovery fund and the regional enterprise transition scheme. These funds played a critical role in helping businesses to sustain employment and adapt as they faced liquidity and business continuity issues.

Some €60 million of Enterprise Ireland’s budget in 2021 was allocated to the local enterprise offices. The local enterprise offices, in an eighth consecutive year of growth in 2021, saw their clients add 7,400 new jobs during 2021, financially supporting 7,158 companies across their 31 offices and bringing total employment to 35,729, of which 85% is outside Dublin. Over 60,000 businesses were trained by LEOs, with 14,000 mentoring assignments taking place, while almost 6,000 people took part in the Start Your Own Business programme that year. Upskilling and retraining were essential supports for businesses which needed to pivot or change their business model due to the impact of Covid-19. During the pandemic across 2020 and 2021, the LEOs facilitated over 17,000 trading online vouchers, enabling small businesses to keep their virtual doors open when physical ones had to close. In addition, the LEOs support thousands more small businesses nationwide with key supports and interventions.

In 2022, I am glad to report, this strong performance in job growth and wider supports has continued, as seen in our announcement and that of the LEO network in January 2023. In 2022, Enterprise Ireland clients created almost 11,000 net new jobs and total employment increased by 5% to 218,178, with two thirds based outside the Dublin region. During the same period, local enterprise office clients increased employment by 10% and now directly employ 37,863 people nationwide. We are currently gathering information on the wider economic impact of firms in exports, spending and other data during 2022.

In recent years, business has had to weather various storms, including the initial phase of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as having endured a very challenging environment in 2022 due to the war in Ukraine and increasing inflation more generally. Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices have stayed close to our clients throughout that time and will continue to do so. Current issues facing business include: the availability of labour and skills; dealing with inflation and supply chain challenges and maintaining competitiveness; decarbonisation and planning for future sustainability requirements; accelerating the transition to more digitally-enabled operating models; and the funding of businesses for ongoing operations and growth. Notwithstanding the challenges, I assure the committee that underlying business sentiment is strong and there are many opportunities for Irish companies in our global markets.

In the interests of time, I will close on that point. I thank committee members for their time and for the opportunity to make an opening statement.