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

We are trying to reach all of these companies through our various agencies. A lot of effort has gone in but our focus through the Department in the past couple of years is how we can fix relationships with Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices to capture all of those companies. Very often, the gap that is presented to us and, no doubt, to the Deputy, is that when companies go beyond that ten mark, they can fall between the two agencies. The Deputy will see in the Enterprise Ireland strategy that was published last January the new focus to work with the local enterprise offices and to develop a new framework to make sure we capture all of those companies on their way up, although some of them might come back down, and if they were at 15, they might come back down to eight or nine. I can see that relationship has been greatly enhanced over the last couple of years. The framework, which will be published in the new year, identifies how best we will do that.

In addition, through a range of supports through the local enterprise offices, we are reaching many of those companies that the Deputy has identified. We are engaging with them through the Department in order to find the best way. The White Paper that the Tánaiste is leading out on, which will be published before the end of the year, will identify the best way to address any structural deficits to make sure we reach all of these companies.

The conversation about the third agency has been around a long time and I have heard it many times. Our focus has to be on what is the best way to reach these companies to make sure we can assist them in their journey of competitiveness and productivity, their green journey and their digitalisation journey. We are able to do that through all of the competitiveness offerings through the local enterprise offices and through Enterprise Ireland. Of course, every option is being looked at and we would be happy to take on board the Deputy’s suggestions in our review over the next couple of months.

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