Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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Question 91: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans for the future of county enterprise boards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16878/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The issue of restructuring the County and City Enterprise Boards has been in the public domain since the publication of the McCarthy Group Report under the last Administration. It is both timely and appropriate to re-structure, and re-focus, how the State delivers its support to the indigenous micro-enterprise sector as, after all, this sector will be vital to job creation and to overall economic recovery in Ireland. However, within this context, it is vital to ensure that any restructuring does not compromise on service delivery to the end user and that it is vital to ensure that State support for enterprise and job creation activities is delivered in a coherent, effective and efficient manner.

Both I, and my officials, are currently seeking to determine the extent to which there should be restructuring of the County and City Enterprise Boards having regard to the programme for Government, and to other recommendations on CEB restructuring, to the need to achieve a rational and focused model for entrepreneurs, as well as the need to ensure that there is targeted local delivery of enterprise support, driven by a national enterprise policy, in a manner which eliminates overlap and duplication.