John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the Bill. My party would have significant reservations about the dissolution of the county enterprise boards and the subsuming of their role into local authorities. My colleague, Deputy Dara Calleary, will table amendments to the Bill on Committee Stage. That is not the best decision in the interest of counties because while many of the job announcements are welcome, they are not going to counties such as Wexford or the south east where we have a serious problem with the IDA and Enterprise Ireland in terms of their efforts to encourage companies to set up in the south east. We have had very few job announcements in recent years, particularly from the IDA, and as previous speakers pointed out, from replies to Dáil questions we found out there were only three visits in 2012 - we do not have the 2013 figures yet - by IDA-supported companies looking at the possibility of setting up in Wexford. Many of the larger companies appear to want to locate in Limerick, Dublin, Galway, Cork or other major areas of population, despite the fact that many counties now have good roads, water and sewerage infrastructures. They have all the requirements to meet the demands of a modern company coming to this country, but we believe we are not getting the fair share in that regard.

Enterprise Ireland is an excellent organisation with an outstanding track record in job creation, but it is strange that the county enterprise boards will now be part and parcel of Enterprise Ireland. Enterprise Ireland usually deals with companies that intend to export in the future whereas county enterprise boards deal more with people who have ideas to set up their own companies or business. That has been proven to be successful because the Minister stated that over 33,000 jobs across the country have been supported since 1993, as well as an average of 900 new projects per annum. In addition, there were 25,000 participants in training during that period.

County enterprise boards deal with a different clientele than those dealt with by Enterprise Ireland and the Minister should explain the reason they are now being dumped, so to speak, into Enterprise Ireland and then based in the local authorities. The local authorities are good at housing, planning, and the provision of recreational facilities but they have very little expertise in the area of supporting entrepreneurship or small companies seeking to set up from humble beginnings. Before the county enterprise boards were set up, Wexford County Council and other county councils across the country were trying to do that job but were not capable of doing it.

It is a major mistake on the part of the Government. A strong case can be made for retaining and streamlining the existing structure to facilitate greater co-operation across county enterprise boards to share best practice while retaining the ability to respond to specific local needs. County enterprise boards and local development companies have been responding to local needs and demands for a number of years, while the bigger picture was dealt with by Enterprise Ireland or the IDA.

This Bill will not create a one-stop-shop because SOLAS, the education and training boards, social welfare offices, local development boards, Enterprise Ireland and the IDA will maintain their own offices. These bodies, which offer support for enterprises and job creation, will not be based in the county hall in Wexford or in other county councils. The Bill will not help to support local industry in any way.

Concerns have also been expressed about how the new structures will be funded. The local authorities will be expected to provide matching funding but they are not even in a position to cover day-to-day operations such as housing and road repairs. The Minister of State, Deputy Perry, might explain how they will find the money to offer co-funding under the new system. Is it the intention to make additional funds available to local authorities for this purpose?

A number of speakers referred to mentoring. Many successful local businesses have been mentored through county enterprise boards. The Wexford County Enterprise Board under Tom Banville has been very helpful to businesses by providing mentoring and back-up support both while they were being established and for a number of years after they got up and running. Where companies got into difficulties, they were also available to lend assistance. The county enterprise board model was established in 1993 in the context of a previous jobs crisis. Now that we are facing a similar situation it does not make sense to abolish them. Boards have assisted a wide range of new business activities across the country.

Enterprise Ireland and the IDA focus on activities related to research and development and scientific innovation. That is not the case for county enterprise boards, which give greater attention to what they call the highly effective creation of jobs at local level. I can identify a considerable number of individuals in County Wexford who have established businesses that employ between one and three people thanks to the support they received from the county enterprise board or Wexford Local Development. County enterprise boards have proven to be one of the most effective types of support for small businesses and it is not a good idea to merge them with Enterprise Ireland and the county council offices.

Enterprise board members were drawn from a variety of backgrounds, including trade unions, employer organisations, State agencies and local businesses. Members gave up their time on a voluntary basis and their understanding of local needs and demands meant they had a fair idea of whether a project was viable. How will this valuable expertise be made available under the new structure?

The fact that the SME sector remains in a critical condition has been overshadowed by the welcome success of the exporting multinational sector. The abolition of the county enterprise board will be a further setback to the SME sector. Instead of abolishing them, we should give them additional resources to support local enterprise development. The latest SME quality survey, which was published in December 2013, found that 50% of companies applying for funding in the preceding three months were refused credit by their banks. This Bill will not take us in the right direction and we will be putting forward amendments to it on Committee Stage.

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