Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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445. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will seek to convert a number of bank retail units that have no other immediate viable retail opportunity into enterprise centres for start up businesses for a nominal rent. [14165/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I understand from Enterprise Ireland that since the launch of the first Community Enterprise Centre scheme in 1989, €64 million has been approved by the agency for the development of CECs across the country. To date, there have been 4 capital schemes and 117 CECs have been completed.

In January 2012, Enterprise Ireland introduced a €2m fund to support the appointment of 46 Business Development Managers to sustain and scale up tenants and employment numbers within the Community Enterprise Centres that were previously funded by Enterprise Ireland.

There are no immediate plans from an Enterprise Ireland perspective to launch a scheme for capital funds for Community Enterprise Centres. However, I understand that Enterprise Ireland is considering its supports for Community Enterprise Centres and in a number of months, I expect them to report back on their future approaches to supporting these facilities.