Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of enterprises that have closed since January 2011; and the programmes in place to support struggling small to medium enterprises [41617/12]

John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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The latest official statistics available on business start-ups and closures were published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) in their Press Release on “Business Demography 2010” which was published on 22 June 2012.

These returns show that:

- During 2010, there were over 195,000 enterprises active in the private business economy in Ireland, with nearly 1.24 million persons engaged;

- During 2010, over 11,000 enterprises were created.

- During 2009, more than 24,000 businesses ceased resulting in a loss of nearly 35,000 jobs.

Comparable CSO figures for 2011 will not become available until 2013.

It is an unfortunate reality that companies for a wide range of reasons find themselves in difficulty and early intervention is critically important. For this reason, the Enterprise Development Agencies, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Shannon Development operate an early warning system, which has been in place for over ten years. When triggered, this mechanism brings the full capacity of the agency concerned to bear on whatever situation has arisen within the client company. This involves engaging closely with those client companies reporting difficulties or potential job losses to determine what appropriate proactive measures can be put in place by the Agency to prevent or minimise the job losses.

Supporting SME’s in the current difficult economic climate is a key Government priority. Government actions to relieve pressure on small and medium sized businesses in the domestic economy are set out in the Action Plan for Jobs published in February 2012 and reported on quarterly.

In addition to the wide-range of programmes being delivered by the Enterprise Agencies, the Government is also focusing on other measures to address the challenge of access to finance being faced by SMEs. Last Thursday, my colleague Minister Richard Bruton launched the new Microfinance Loan Fund and we will shortly be launching the Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme.

We are also ensuring that Enterprise Ireland progresses the Development Capital Scheme and the Innovation Fund. This is real evidence of Government getting involved in filling gaps in the market and supporting viable businesses.

We are making solid progress on this crucially important agenda and have already put place a number of measures that will make a practical difference in making it easier for businesses to grow and create jobs. We will redouble our efforts in the coming year with the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 to ensure that we put in place policies that respond in a meaningful way to the many challenges faced by business on a daily basis.