Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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100. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the strategy he and his Department are developing for smaller towns, such as Castlerea, Boyle, Mohill and Tuam, that will make it viable to live in the west of Ireland; if his Department has a strategy to tackle unemployment black spots in this region; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44403/14]

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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In the smaller towns in the west, such as Castlerea, Boyle, Tuam and Mohill, there does not seem to be any strategy to create employment. We are back to these obstacles being put in the way. I firmly believe that the Departments need to adopt joined-up thinking. For example, I am aware of a hotel that could have been sold and 15 jobs created but for exorbitant rates. At this stage, we need to think outside the box. No matter how one looks at it, that was worth €300,000 being taken off the social welfare bill. At the same time, we were looking at rates of €40,000 and we lost the sale of a business. Can we not do a bit of new thinking? For example-----

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I will come back to Deputy Fitzmaurice.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The ongoing aim of the Action Plan for Jobs is to support enterprise growth and job creation in all regions of the country and in all towns and cities. Recent CSO data show that the number at work has increased by 33,500 in the past 12 months. Compared to a situation where the private sector was losing 7,000 jobs per month, we are now creating 2,800 jobs per month.

Looking at the live register, in the past 12 months 143,000 people left the live register to take up work and the nationwide Pathways to Work initiative aims to support that. In all of those regions of which the Deputy speaks, the live register figure is falling. It is falling in the Border region, the midlands and the west, and when one goes down to individual towns, it is also falling. We are making progress. The general policy has been to support business on a wide basis, with, for instance, the low rate of VAT, the abolition of the travel tax, the access to finance measures, the online trading measures, the reforms in company law and the reforms in income tax. These all are aimed at improving the business environment in towns and cities across the country.

As I have already said, the new structure of 31 local enterprise offices is now in place. They are aimed specifically at the smaller business start-up, to support those and act as a first-stop shop so that anyone seeking to create an enterprise in those towns the Deputy mentioned have access to a full range of supports.

On top of that, this year we will introduce a regional framework for enterprise strategy in each region to try to build off the competitive advantage that those regions have. We will be looking at such matters as the community enterprise centres as an asset in those regions to see how we can we sweat to deliver better value and create new opportunities. I assure the Deputy that we are working actively to seek to create the best possible environment for towns and cities to grow and support the enterprises within them.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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Statistics, when one reads them out, sound great. There are staff in the higher Civil Service who write for the Minister and all these statistics are dazzling. However, the reality is each of us on the ground knows the problems involved in setting up business right across the country. We need to forget about those who love writing a beautiful essay; we need to work constructively together.

I was in contact with three local enterprise offices, LEOs, yesterday. When I was trying to see if training or funding was available, one of them stated it had no funding left. It is grand in here for us all to say the LEOs or whatever can do this, that or the other, but the reality on the ground, which is what matters, is that the funding is not there at present and the problem will not be solved without it.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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If Deputy Fitzmaurice wants to draw to our attention a specific office where he is having difficulty, we will look at that situation.

By establishing the local enterprise office, we sought to forge a partnership with the local authorities. The local authorities are one of the most powerful influences in the local area. They have access to property solutions. They provide the environment for many of the business supports, and the planning rules. They are a powerful ally.

Through the local enterprise office, one has access to mentoring support, start-up supports and access to the Revenue Commissioners, who provide seed capital tax relief for people who were PAYE officers. A range of supports is available. If people are experiencing difficulty at local level, the Deputy should by all means draw matters to our attention and we will seek to rectify them. We are trying to ensure there is a network in place in order that anyone who wants to start a business can get access to the support mechanism.

Microfinance is now being run through the local enterprise office and the take-up of that has doubled in the past 12 months. Some of the new initiatives that are being rolled out to new businesses are having an impact.

Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to give the Minister this information. When I inquired about funding in a LEO office I visited yesterday, I was told that if the business is not based on exports then it is a non-runner. We need to know where we stand, and we must encourage everyone who sets up a business, whether they sell to their neighbour or to America. We must get it into people's heads that a job is a job and the enterprise offices should deal with everybody.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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There is and has always been a distinction between businesses with an export potential and businesses that provide a purely domestic service. The rationale for that is very understandable. It would be considered unfair if one is running an existing business and a Department is providing grant aid to someone down the road with whom one is in competition. However, grants are available if someone is in a business with a potential for export. Supports are also available for domestic businesses. A start-up tax credit is available, as is microfinance, mentoring and a range of other supports. Each business is judged on its own merits.