Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Property solutions are an issue. The IDA has applied for planning permission to build out the available property options in the region. This forms part of the strategy being pursued.

The Senator also raised the issue of micro-finance. It is a demand-led scheme and depends on people coming forward. We are administering it through the county enterprise boards, CEBs, which are soon to become local enterprise offices, LEOs. They are the first-stop shop. People with ideas can get help from CEBs with their business plans and apply to the micro-finance board for approval. We would be doing no one any favour by supporting plans that are not viable. It is important that a plan be tested before it is presented.

The scheme is in its infancy and we have yet to see the scope of micro-finance.

In other jurisdictions it has not been a significant element of the overall funding environment and I draw the Senator's attention to other initiatives, such as the competitive start fund, a micro-finance fund run by Enterprise Ireland. There are several high-potential start-ups and we are trying to develop a range of processes to meet the different needs of start-up companies. We will review the scheme after it has been in operation for a certain period to see if there are weaknesses either in local promotion or glitches in access. If the Senator hears of a bad experience, he should bring it to my attention, as we are only too pleased to try to improve it as we go along.