John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)

A one stop shop will be delivered. It is not rocket science to envisage that there will be supports such as mentoring. We know how effective the county enterprise boards have been to date. They will be working with local development units. The mandate of job creation will be under the Minister, Deputy Bruton, led by Enterprise Ireland.

This will be managed by Enterprise Ireland, working in partnership. We do not need extra staff to deliver the service. Rather, the mindset of all staff and local authorities should be about working together. There is a local development board in every county council and some very fine people are on them. Social enterprise is taking place in every county. Community enterprise is regenerating communities.

Putting all staff together in a one stop shop facility means they can advise, recommend or work with other bodies, such as third level institutions. If people have an idea and want to develop a concept they can go to a front of house facility, whereas until now the county enterprise board structure was very much geared towards manufacturing. We want to develop the range of services available, such as mentoring and accounting, and redirect people to where they can avail of them. It is about recognising the potential and tapping into it. It is a huge opportunity for enterprises in every county to have a one stop shop where they can get advice to develop businesses.

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