Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

I will answer the second question first. I am anxious to reduce costs for businesses, and I acknowledge that local authority rates represent a significant cost. There is a widely held view that while the income and asset values of many small businesses have reduced dramatically, charges have not reduced as significantly as they might have done. I recently spoke to all the city and county managers about inputs and asked them to come back to me with three papers on three different issues. One of those issues is that alongside their planning role, they also have an important developmental role and, as such, it is within their remit to ensure costs are reduced. My understanding as of last Friday is that I will receive those three reports in the coming weeks. I will examine them in great detail. The review carried out in local authorities indicates clearly that there is scope for significant savings, and I am happy for that to be done.

On the Deputy's first question, I am looking at the structure of the county and city enterprise boards. I am anxious to ensure that we have a unified and synergised enterprise strategy and that all elements of it work in consort. I want to examine outputs from each entity. I am not convinced that we should have 35 private companies where the cost of auditing is €250,000 and the cost of advertising across the board is another €250,000. I would prefer that money to be invested in job creation.

See this speech in context