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

The Deputy will recall that the capital budget for enterprise supports was broadly protected for 2013 to ensure continued support for Irish business and the implementation of the Action Plan for Jobs programme. This plan is about using available resources in smarter ways and achieving new forms of collaboration across Government to promote enterprise and jobs.

Many of the innovative ideas developed under the Action Plan for Jobs have been aimed at developing new opportunities for indigenous business. These include: improving enterprise competitiveness and access to finance through measures such as the seed and venture capital, development capital, credit guarantee and microfinance schemes; the creation of a micro and small business focused centre of excellence within Enterprise Ireland and the establishment of local enterprise offices within local government, heralding the start of a new radical reform of the system of supports for micro and small businesses and the creation of a culture of excellence for micro-enterprises and start-ups; establishing the potential exporters division in Enterprise Ireland as a new way of engaging with Irish companies that are not yet exporting; a recently launched manufacturing strategy which has the potential to support the creation of 20,000 jobs by 2016 - this will be achieved by focusing on sectors with potential, adapting and responding to changing global supply chains, developing and adapting new technologies and developing indigenous potential for start-up and scaling; a new national step change initiative available to all Enterprise Ireland client companies that will systematically support manufacturing companies; new start-up and capability funds to be run by Enterprise Ireland specifically targeting supports for new manufacturing start-ups and to support capital investment; and roll out of the three new technology centres in the areas of pharmaceutical production, data analytics and connected health. Twelve to 15 companies will be supported by each new centre and this number will increase over time.

These policies are having a positive impact and are supporting enterprises and job creation. There has been a return to stability in the labour market since the middle of 2012 in spite of international and domestic difficulties. The Deputy will be aware that there was an annual increase in private sector employment of 20,000 people in the year to March 2013 and about 18,000 of this was in indigenous business.

My Department continuously monitors the needs of Irish businesses to ensure that policy and programmes reflect their needs. We are currently assessing how policy supporting entrepreneurship can be improved with the help of the group of entrepreneurs under Mr. Sean O'Sullivan. We are also reviewing our capacity to improve-----

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