Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)
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Question 94: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation if he will clarify the financial situation with city and county enterprise boards, especially Limerick City Enterprise Board which cannot issue grants to viable business start-ups due to lack of funding, with less than half of the calendar year completed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18742/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The 2010 financial allocation to Limerick City Enterprise Board, and to each of the other 34 individual Enterprise Boards, is derived from the final allocation set out for my Department in the Revised Estimate as published on 18 February 2010. The 2010 budget allocation for the County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs) is €28.3m of which €14.994 is allocated for Capital Expenditure. This compares to a 2009 capital allocation of €14.229 which, however, was supplemented by an additional €6m made available under the Department's capital carryover process. No such carryover provision was available for 2010.

Exchequer funding is allocated between the 35 CEBs by the Central Coordination Unit (CCU), based within Enterprise Ireland, on the basis of a standard allocation to each CEB as well as an allocation that is determined mainly by population but which also takes account of issues such as local unemployment trends, capacity to spend, existing commitments and regional spread.

I have asked for a report from Limerick CEB on the exact level of demand for funding and I will review the situation when this information is available.