Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Question 391: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the position in relation to people who need help with new ideas (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31664/06]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Entrepreneurship in Ireland is encouraged by the active and constant pursuit and promotion by the Government of an economic environment that is supportive of entrepreneurial activity combined with a wide range of targeted interventions by various State enterprise development agencies.

There are, in the first instance, thirty-five City and County Enterprise Boards (CEBs) spread throughout the Country whose function is to provide a source of support for micro enterprise in the start-up and expansion phases, to promote and develop indigenous micro-enterprise potential and to stimulate economic activity and entrepreneurship at local level. The CEBs offer a series of Programmes to underpin this function.

The CEBs can provide both financial and non financial assistance to a project promoter. The forms of financial assistance which are available, subject to certain restrictions, include Capital Grants, Employment Grants and Feasibility Study Grants.

The basic criteria under which financial assistance is available is based primarily on factors such as the sector of the economy in which an enterprise is operating or intends to operate and the size or proposed size of the enterprise. The enterprise must be in the commercial sphere, must demonstrate a market for the proposed product/service, must have a capacity for growth and new job creation and must not employ more than 10 people. The CEBs give priority to enterprises in the manufacturing or internationally traded services sector which over time can develop into strong export entities and graduate to the Enterprise Ireland Portfolio and the CEBs must always give consideration to any potential for deadweight and displacement arising from a proposed activity.

As well as financial assistance the CEBs can offer non-financial assistance in the form support Programmes designed to help new and existing enterprises to operate effectively and efficiently as well as offering a generalised business advice and information service. Where a CEB cannot be of assistance to a person they will endeavour to re-direct that person to another more appropriate source of assistance.

The CEBs exist alongside a number of other enterprise support agencies including Enterprise Ireland and the local LEADER Groups. Enterprise Ireland is the national development agency with primary responsibility for assisting the development of larger indigenous enterprises in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sector while the LEADER Groups support small enterprises outside the main urban areas.