Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he is willing to revisit the proposals to establish LEOs in view of the opposition of the small business sector. [9046/13]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views that the primacy for local small business development should rest within the agencies responsible to his Department. [9058/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 27 together.

The prepared reply is very similar to the one earlier delivered by the Minister of State, Deputy Perry. Let me paraphrase it rather than reading it again.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The old ones are good and never bad.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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One can never get too much of a good thing.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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We are absolutely committed to the provision of a much better environment for small business and we believe that by integrating the capacity of the local authority with the enterprise boards, we can develop a quality service. As the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, pointed out, one element of that is a first-stop shop. There will be a place for people to go where they can get easy access to State supports across an entire range, including Revenue Commissioners for the seed capital scheme, the Department of Social Protection for back to enterprise and the Credit Review Office. They will have a seamless access at that first-stop shop. They will bring local authority support services to business into one location so there will be both local authority and others. We are building a network that will have service level agreements with Enterprise Ireland and, more importantly, there will be a centre of excellence within Enterprise Ireland designed to drive high quality interventions.

As the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, has already said and it was acknowledged by Deputy Calleary, we have introduced the new credit guarantee and microfinance. We want to make that information available through the local authorities within local authorities. As the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, said, I accept there is criticism. Some people claim these should not be located in local authorities. However, I believe this is a great opportunity for local authorities to demonstrate their commitment to small business in their region because focusing on small business will allow them rebuild their rate base and rebuild the prosperity of their area. We are absolutely committed to deliver this and deliver a quality service. We will go on the road to promote it, as the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, has done, in order to get the optimum service to business.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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I am delighted that the Minister, Deputy Bruton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, are espousing Sinn Féin policy. We proposed having local enterprise one-stop shops in a jobs plan we announced four years ago. It is good that it is happening. It does not matter who introduces it. ISME and the Small Firms Association have been very forthright in expressing concerns about this. Our party believes it is a good idea, but the views of ISME and the Small Firms Association need to be considered and the Government needs to sell the idea to them.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I accept we have to sell this. We must ensure there is an enterprise culture in these local enterprise offices - that is absolutely clear. Part of the fear is that there will not be an enterprise culture. In the Deputy's earlier supplementary questions to the Minister of State, Deputy Perry, he asked if this would be politicised. These decisions will not be politicised. The decision making on grants will be done by an independent evaluation committee. Local business people will be on that committee to ensure its professional expertise is brought to bear on the projects.

The county and city managers have 2,000 initiatives that they have mined from different local authorities as positive things they have been doing for business. We want to see that sort of best practice being mainstreamed in our local authorities so that not only are they housing this excellent service, but also bringing considerable added value to it. That is the concept. I accept we need to sell it and persuade small business, but I believe we will demonstrate that it will deliver a good service.

I thank Deputy Stanley. I do not care where ideas come from so long as they work.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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We do not mind.

Peter Mathews (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputies for their questions, and the Minister and Minister of State for their replies.