Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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6. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation under the Action Plan for Jobs, the concrete measures that will be taken to improve the supports for female entrepreneurs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28673/15]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister the supports he is putting in place to improve the number of female entrepreneurs under the Action Plan for Jobs. In particular, what is he doing in the regional action plans because that is an area that is untapped? I ask the question in the context of a report on this area, which will be published next week, from the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation authored by Senator Mary White, who is a successful entrepreneur.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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In the first Action Plan for Jobs in 2012, special actions were initiated to support an increase in female entrepreneurs. This included Enterprise Ireland’s first dedicated Competitive Start Call for female entrepreneurs. That call was massively oversubscribed and was immediately extended. That was the first step taken.

An increase of female entrepreneurship has been a consistent policy objective. Since then it has been reflected in the subsequent National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship which was launched last year. This is the first time a Government has published a comprehensive national plan for entrepreneurship in Ireland. The policy initiatives to promote greater involvement by women include start up training programmes, mentoring and networking dedicated start-up training programmes, mentoring and networking dedicated start-up calls targeted at women, and public promotion of role models of successful women entrepreneurs. The policy is yielding significant results.

Enterprise Ireland had its best result ever for female led start-ups in 2014. Of the 183 technology start-ups that received equity investment, 43 were led by female entrepreneurs. Enterprise Ireland also supported 94 female led businesses through female specific development programmes co-funded by Enterprise Ireland, and it is on track to increase the numbers this year. Enterprise Ireland also has an online networking platform for female entrepreneurs and has supported several awards, conferences and initiatives to create platforms for female entrepreneur role models. I have not seen Senator Mary White's report yet, and I know the Deputy is launching a report today also. If we get a chance we can attend that to examine it but as is the case with all the reports that come through the committee, if there are proposals from which we can benefit we try to implement them if we can. We will have a look at that.

Last year, and this is a good statistic, the local enterprise offices, LEOs, delivered training to almost 14,000 women, compared to 11,000 males. That is a major increase. On the mentoring, approximately 2,921 women took up mentoring compared to 3,969 men, but the gap is closing, which is an improvement.

The LEOs organise the National Women’s Enterprise Day and the Women in Business Initiative, which bring together women who are successfully running their own business and who aspire to success. Of the more than 1,000 participants in the LEO-run Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur competition, there were 487 female participants. Some of the initiatives are having an impact but the onus is on all of us to keep promoting them.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister. I acknowledge that a lot of work has been done but to give an indication of the potential in this area, the total early stage entrepreneurial activity is measured by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor and it shows that, in Ireland, 6.5% of the adult population are what it defines as early stage entrepreneurs. The percentage for Irish females is 4.23%, and the European average is 5.45%. The US average is 10.56%. We need to increase our activity.

As the Minister stated, the Enterprise Ireland fund was completely over-subscribed. First, are there any plans to increase the fund and increase the number of calls to the fund to ensure that more people get involved in it? Second, in the context of the regional jobs action plans, will specific measures be undertaken to encourage regional activity in this area? I acknowledge the huge amount of work that has been put into this by the people in Enterprise Ireland and in the local enterprise offices, LEOs, but they are crying out for more support and funding. As the Minister said, there is huge potential in this area but we need the funding to match the potential.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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Regarding the statistics, the Deputy quoted the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM. To be clear, the 2013 report showed that Irish men were 1.9 times more likely than Irish women to start their own business or become an early stage entrepreneur, and the EU average is 1.9:1. That is not good enough but we are competing in that regard. We are slightly above the OECD average, which is 1.7:1, but the Deputy will agree there is untapped potential when it comes to female entrepreneurship, and we are trying to push that forward.

The regional plans have a range of actions, two of which have been launched, with more to follow. Many of those actions are to be agreed and implemented at a local level. Some of them are specifically aligned to female entrepreneurship but they are more general in nature. Through the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland there are a range of initiatives specifically to target female entrepreneurship. To name a few, from an Enterprise Ireland perspective there is Going for Growth, which is a development programme specifically targeted at female entrepreneurship; the Dublin City University Royal Academy Female Propeller for High Fliers programme, the NDRC Female Founders programme; and the Cork Institute of Technology female Exxcel programme. There are an additional 32 women in the New Frontiers entrepreneur development programme as well. We have the funds available in terms of the target initiatives but it is a question of promoting the applications process.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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In the context of the Action Plan for Jobs, one of the Minister's cries is that it is cross-departmental and represents a whole of Government approach. However, there are other issues around the lack of a proper child care system, the taxation of self-employed people, and generally supporting people to take time out of their personal lives to develop a business. What is the Department doing, under the Action Plan for Jobs infrastructure, to push other Departments, including the Department of Social Protection, to do what is necessary to encourage more female entrepreneurship? The Minister has used the phrase "disruptive reforms". He needs to blow a few reforms towards some of these Departments, particularly the Departments of Children and Youth Affairs and Social Protection, in regard to entrepreneurship generally but especially in regard to female entrepreneurship.

Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael)
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That is a fair comment. We try, through the Action Plan for Jobs, to bring all the Departments together in that regard. I understand the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy James Reilly, is bringing forward a document next week on the child care element and early school learning. It is hoped there will be some supports in that and that this will encourage us.

On the taxation of self-employed people, the Taoiseach referenced that yesterday in that we intend to address that in this year's budget and to be able to close that gap over coming budgets and make it more aligned to the PAYE system for self-employed. We know there is a gap in that regard, and that will be addressed in this budget.

On the area of child care, many of the start your own business courses are supported through the LEOs, the training awards and, likewise, our education and training boards. When it comes to child care, there are supports to facilitate women to attend these courses. We can examine that with a view to improving the offering because the Deputy is right. We have to encourage women to take up these courses. I am satisfied that the percentage of females involved in these courses has increased dramatically and if we need to do more to encourage that, we will.