Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

We spend a lot of time in this House discussing issues like the ESM and the debt where the Government acts like a passive bystander and refuses to do any work but when we come to an issue like county enterprise boards, there is an opportunity for the Government to get stuck in. This whole area has been in flux since Batt O'Keeffe was Minister and suggested the reform. The sword of Damocles has been hanging over the county enterprise boards ever since. This is a vital sector, it is the interface between young entrepreneurs and their ability to see their business come to fruition. Right now there is confusion within the sector. It is important we get a better indication of when this will happen. We need an outline for the individuals working in the boards and for local businesses.

Previously, the Minister of State said local authority workers would be involved in county enterprise board work on top of their own work. How will that happen? What will the budget savings be in 2012, 2013 and 2014? The last time we discussed this in February, the Minister of State said there would be a wider range of Enterprise Ireland programmes for companies with rapid growth potential. What did he mean by that?

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