Pat Rabbitte (Dublin South West, Labour)
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Question 55: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the dedicated supports available to companies from agencies under the remit of his Department aimed at increasing awareness of, and promoting, eco efficiency in their operations; the number of companies to date who have taken advantage of these supports; the cost to the State of these supports; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15454/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Enterprise Ireland (EI) operates two direct financial support schemes that help Irish SMEs to increase awareness of and promote eco-efficiency in their operations. These are the Environmental Management System (EMS) Support Scheme and the Environmentally Superior Products (ESP) Support Scheme. The EMS Support Scheme has been in operation since late 1998 and since then 105 Irish SMEs have been approved for funding. The total funds approved by Enterprise Ireland in that time amount to €775,123. The actual drawdown of funds in that period has been €441,512. Shannon Development has approved grant payments of €61,812 to eight different companies under the scheme. To date €18,850 has been paid to these companies. The ESP Support Scheme has been running since 1999 and has supported 40 Irish SMEs to date with total approvals over the life of the scheme to date being €1m. Associated costs of the scheme are approx. €15k per annum covering mainly staff costs. Eco efficiency is also an increasingly important element in the attraction and retention of Foreign Direct Investment. In this context IDA has fostered strong links and co-operation with other agencies and stakeholders such as Forfas, Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) and Enterprise Ireland with a view to increasing client company awareness and access to energy efficiency programmes which are run by SEI. In addition, IDA is also liaising with its client companies in the area of renewable energy options. While the County Enterprise Boards do not operate a specific eco dedicated scheme, they are nevertheless ready to support, against their normal range of evaluation criteria, any viable eco business proposal that may come forward for consideration.