Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Our agencies support companies in accessing public procurement tenders. Both EI and InterTradeIreland have good programmes to support companies in preparing themselves to bid for public procurement contracts either at home or abroad. It is on supporting the enterprise side that we operate.

The idea behind developing a regional enterprise strategy is to make sure that there is knowledge across all the stakeholders who can help build a competitive advantage in a region using the thinking of the IDA, EI and LEOs and identify a sector's strengths and what we are hoping to build on. The Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 will be rolled out under Leader companies. We do not seek to usurp to work they do but we need to have clear vision among all stakeholders about where the opportunities are and how we will develop them because that will given an opportunity to others to provide support. Clearly, the education sector in many regions plays a huge part. If it can build networks to support a particular sectoral project in a region where we are building to its strengths, that could immensely enhance the work of IDA and EI in delivering its sectoral ambitions. That is the type of collaboration we are seeking to develop.

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