Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to reconfigure the enterprise development agencies to allow local authorities to participate in strategic investment decisions regarding local and regional business development through funding research and development. [15621/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Investment decisions concerning grant aid, including research and development, to individual undertakings are operational matters for the development agencies. Under the Industrial Development Acts the Minister of the day is precluded from giving directions to the agencies concerning specific projects.

Under existing arrangements local authorities can engage with the development agencies concerning local development plans. For example, both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are members of the various county development boards operated by the local authorities. They are also members of sub-groups of the boards such as the Economic Development Group. The county and city enterprise boards also work closely with their relevant local authorities and are active participants on the county development boards. The board of each county enterprise board includes four elected councillors nominated by the local authority as well as the county manager. This structure of cross-representation creates a platform for the delivery of enterprise supports at the local and regional level in an integrated and effective manner.

The enterprise development agencies are also represented by regional managers on inter-agency task forces responding to a local need at a given time, for example, the Dungarvan inter-agency task group. Regional managers also attend many other meetings with chambers of commerce and other committees involved in developing initiatives to market the county.

In terms of infrastructure, the goal is to ensure that each county has appropriate property solutions, tailored to specific key sectoral targets, to attract inward investments. This means the provision of high quality business and technology parks, and in co-operation with the private sector, the provision of new advance technology buildings. It also means undertaking long-term planning with the local authority so that the county is seen by investors as having the appropriate locational solutions in terms of property, infrastructure, air access, business and lifestyle services for key strategic investments of national importance.

Accordingly, there is already extensive collaboration between local authorities and the development agencies and I do not consider there is any necessity to reconfigure the agencies in these circumstances.