Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for his question and for his support for enterprise centres and the general principle of investing in and strengthening them. I spent a day recently in counties Cavan and Monaghan and saw the benefits of investing in enterprise centres and enterprise teams in those counties and indeed, throughout the country. I acknowledge the work that is being carried out locally through the involvement of the local authorities, the LEOs and all involved in running enterprise centres, digital hubs and so on. They can work extremely well and the Government is keen to target investment and to match taxpayer's money with private money, local authority funds and other funding to get the full benefit of these centres.

Enterprise centres provide important infrastructure for entrepreneurs and are an essential part of the start-up ecosystem across Ireland. The centres, many of which are regionally based, provide space, mentoring and support to start-up founders and teams, helping them to scale internationally. They assist companies with growth strategies when businesses want to expand and move out of the back yard, the house or the small office.

To date, my Department has provided funding of €250 million administered by Enterprise Ireland to support the establishment of 270 enterprise centres throughout Ireland, of which approximately 40 originated from the regional enterprise plans. This investment has enabled the establishment of physical space for entrepreneurs, start-ups, scaling companies, SMEs and a balance of small scale foreign direct investment, FDI. This has enabled the delivery of enterprise relevant programmes to companies and the provision of physical spaces to support remote working. Again, the conversation we had in Cavan and Monaghan was around the need for more physical space and proper work solutions. That is something we want to work on through the regional enterprise plans and the funds have been confirmed for that.

Since 2017, Enterprise Ireland has administered departmental funding to 91 projects totalling €16.4 million under both the regional enterprise development fund and the community enterprise centres schemes. On 20 November 2020, €8.24 million in grants, administered through Enterprise Ireland, for 95 enterprise centres around the country was announced. This funding will ensure that these enterprise centres, many of which have been negatively impacted by Covid-19, can sustain their businesses, pivot and further develop their services to continue to assist the development of our start-up companies.

Currently, an Enterprise Ireland open regional development feasibility fund is available to promoters seeking to scope out and investigate the viability of larger full-scale projects such as remote working hubs.

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