Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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Question 662: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will indicate the record of job creation and other initiatives of Shannon Development in comparison with Enterprise Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter in respect of the years 1995 to 2005 inclusive. [24964/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Enterprise Ireland has national responsibility for the promotion of indigenous industrial development in the internationally traded services and manufacturing sectors. Its responsibility for the mid-west region is delegated to Shannon Development. It is therefore not possible to compare the respective performances of the agencies on a regional basis.

Enterprise Ireland implements and administers a wide range of national programmes and services that are delivered to companies regardless of the development agency to which they are affiliated. These national schemes are designed to meet specific national development objectives. Enterprise Ireland personnel work closely with Shannon Development client companies where there is a requirement to do so.

Enterprise Ireland's performance is measured using a range of indicators, including employment, the creation of high potential start up companies, HPSUs, exports and infrastructural investments. Over the period 1995 to 2004, client companies of Enterprise Ireland have created 137,075 jobs. In the same period a total of 445 new HPSUs were created. Exports from Enterprise Ireland client companies grew on an annual average basis of around 6% between 1998 and 2004 and now stand at €10.2 billion. The total number of first time exporters between 1999 and 2004 was 578.

Enterprise Ireland's infrastructural investments cover a range of initiatives including community enterprise centres, incubation centres in the colleges and universities, the creation of specialised incubation spaces or wet labs for biotechnology start-ups, as well as supports for seed and venture capital. To date, 97 community enterprise centres have been built and 17 are in various stages of completion. The enterprises in these centres employ approximately 3,800 people. Enterprise Ireland's incubator construction programme in the institutes of technology and in the universities represents a major investment on the part of the State, amounting to some €36 million.

Under the 2000 to 2006 seed and venture capital programme Enterprise Ireland has committed €98 million to 15 funds that provide venture capital for small and medium sized enterprises, SMEs. This commitment has leveraged €300 million in additional funding for investment in SMEs, primarily in the knowledge based sectors.

Shannon Development assisted companies created 18,593 jobs from 1995 to 2004, 6,541 in the Shannon Free Zone for FDI, which Enterprise Ireland does not deal with, and 12,052 in the rest of the Shannon region. In the same period, Shannon Development supported 56 HPSUs, 39 of these projects are still in business and to date have created 290 jobs of which 200 have been created by 27 firms established in the past four years. Many of these projects are involved in research and development and all are focused on export markets. The agency has also supported 185 pre-HPSUs providing incubator space, feasibility grants and advice at local level through its knowledge network locations in Limerick, Tralee, Ennis, Birr and Thurles. There are currently 57 companies at this phase of development, employing 80 people.

Shannon Development is involved in other initiatives to help indigenous industry, for example, VentureStart 1 and VentureStart 2, world-class business cluster programme, Design Shannon and so forth.