Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to contribute to the debate. The county enterprise boards are being assimilated into local authorities under the auspices of Enterprise Ireland. I will speak about Limerick as it is the area I represent. The Limerick city and county enterprise boards will come together in the amalgamated Limerick local authority under the manager Conn Murray. A one-stop shop will be created. We speak a lot about structure but the skillsets of the personnel are what is most important.

I was self-employed from many years as a chartered accountant with my own practice. I dealt with self-employed people and know what they must go through. It is critical the service is made as accessible to them as possible. The one-stop shop under the local authority umbrella will include enterprise and innovation, planning, licensing and structures and it is very welcome. Success will come down to the personnel so it is extremely important the skillsets in the enterprise boards are retained in the new structure.

The structures will evolve over time and the integrated model whereby all the services will work together under one roof is the most efficient and effective model, but this will also come down to the skillsets of the personnel. One can have the best organisation in the world but if one does not have the people with the necessary skillsets running it the organisation may be highly ineffective.

Small and medium enterprises are the lifeblood of the economy and we must appreciate what is involved when somebody becomes self-employed. People may go into self-employment from being unemployed or from secure employment and the risk they take must be acknowledged, as must their concerns about collecting money and access to finance which is why the one-stop shop under the local authorities must be integrated with financial institutions, other State organisations, mentoring services and any grants which are available. People considering becoming self-employed should know when they go to their local authority they will be given very straightforward advice in a range of areas and will be told for what grants they qualify, the schemes under which they can get assistance such as the State-backed bank credit guarantee scheme and microfinance scheme, and provided with information on access to credit from the banks.

Limerick now has directors for economic planning and innovation and a marketing area manager, and all of these will come under the one-stop shop umbrella. Self-employed people and those becoming self-employed must know when they contact the one-stop-shop they will obtain services efficiently and at a low cost and will get whatever assistance is required. The critical period for survival for any small business is the first three years and in the following two years they should reach a stage where they make reasonable money. For existing businesses it is about survival and taking on staff.

This is about job creation.

I welcome this measure but it must be based on retaining skillsets and putting in place skillsets to help the small and medium enterprises sector.

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