Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

We have established an implementation group which has had a number of meetings already. Those people are putting together a plan for the implementation which will include timelines, and I expect to have very substantial progress made by the end of the year. There is a legislative requirement which must come before the House, and I do not expect to have that before the start of next year.

The group working on the implementation plan includes representatives of the enterprise boards, the professionals in the field and representatives of the managers of local authorities. Our aim is to gain a "win-win" position from this and enhance the delivery of service locally by supporting those working in local enterprise offices with a centre of excellence in Enterprise Ireland and by developing new tools, setting standards and driving quality. Local authorities will also be embraced to make them part of solving the problem for local business and have a business-friendly system. This is a challenging change and I acknowledge that not everybody would support it. It will none the less deliver a better quality of service for business in local areas, which is the objective.

See this speech in context