John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This must work because the whole economy depends on the "think small first" principle and the role of small business in every economy is absolutely critical. Intensive consultation is ongoing with all of the vested interests. I have chaired the advisory group on the role of small business in the economy and genuinely believe that all of the expertise in the 35 enterprise boards will be retained, which is critically important. There is much expertise within local authorities in terms of business evaluation and so forth. I know some are concerned about involving local government in this but I think it makes huge sense. We are talking about putting all of the services together in a one-stop-shop facility. That will involve local evaluation of the projects and the expertise of the county and city enterprise boards will still be there.

Change is not a bad thing in itself. When one looks at the service level agreement with Enterprise Ireland one sees that rather than having separate autonomy in every county, there will be joined-up thinking and the best practices within the local authorities will be front of house. If somebody in Laois wants a service, he or she can go to the local enterprise office and get advice on starting a business, banking applications and so forth. The opportunities for business development are enormous, especially with the involvement and commitment of established business people.

I genuinely believe that we are integrating the knowledge into a one-stop-shop that can only benefit the development and roll-out of new companies as well as the expansion of existing companies.

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