Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 46: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he is taking to support businesses in crisis before they are forced to close. [20911/12]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Government's commitment to supporting business is evident from the range of initiatives outlined in the Action Plan for Jobs.

The Plan tackles the issue of access to finance through a range of measures, such as the introduction of a microfinance fund to provide loans of up to €25,000 to micro-enterprises and the roll-out of the temporary partial credit guarantee scheme. At a most practical level my Department and Enterprise Ireland (EI) will be working closely with the banking sector to assist them in achieving a cultural shift in lending practices towards those companies and sectors that are crucial to economic growth.

Additionally, under Action Point 3.27, my Department and Small Business Representative organisations are, as part of the ongoing work of implementing the recommendations of the Report of the Advisory Group for Small Business, developing a one page guide, entitled, "Managing out of the Crisis". This Guide will set out warning signs to encourage small businesses to ask for help and outline services available to help them to get through the current economic environment. The Guide will be published shortly in accordance with the commitment in the Action Plan for Jobs.

The micro-enterprise supports in Ireland will also be reshaped to put in place an improved enterprise support structure for small businesses throughout Ireland. EI will work with the Local Authorities to establish a new network of Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in each Local Authority, which will combine the enterprise support service of the previous CEBs and the business support work of the Business Support Units in the Local Authorities.

I am also very encouraged by recent developments in the private sector such as the initiative launched by Chartered Accountants Ireland, which sees the its voluntary advice service extended nationwide. www.charteredaccountants.ie

I am confident that these types of private sector initiatives combined with the focus that this Government has brought to bear on the issues that are of particular concern for business, will yield real benefit to individual enterprises and the economy as a whole in the short to medium term.