Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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45. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of indigenous enterprises promoted or assisted by way of grant aid in each of the past five years to date; the number of jobs arising therefrom; the number of any such applicants deemed to have failed to qualify for any assistance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44739/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland’s mission is to work with entrepreneurs, Irish businesses and the research and investment communities to develop Ireland’s international trade, innovation and competitiveness. The ultimate objective is increased employment and prosperity in Ireland. Enterprise Ireland works with High Potential Start-Up’s (HPSUs) with a capability to start a business and sell in export markets, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in manufacturing and internationally traded services, large companies employing 250 or more, and, Irish-based food and natural resources companies that are overseas owned or controlled. Enterprise Ireland’s clients delivered €17.1bn in exports and 149,718 full time jobs in 2013.

Enterprise Ireland supported 4,086 companies between 1 January 2009 and 18 November 2014, totalling €707.8m broken down between grant (66%) and equity (34%) payments. Table 1 shows the number of companies supported each year. Some of the 4,086 companies would have received support in one or more years as a grant allocation would be drawn down over time.

The number of full time jobs created by Enterprise Ireland clients between 2009 and 2013 is given in Table 2. 2014 figures are not yet available as EI are currently in the process of carrying out the Annual Employment Survey for 2014.

The majority of funding from Enterprise Ireland is non-competitive and therefore each company’s application is assessed based on a holistic view of the company’s Development Plan, the need for financial assistance and the eligibility criteria for the individual financial support. EI provides a wide variety of Programmes to enterprises at different stages of the business life cycle. There are different formats for applying for funding (i.e. some are competitive and some are not). In general, EI does not reject companies but works to see what other programmes or assistance can be provided to the company to enable it to remain an EI client. For this reason, Enterprise Ireland does not maintain a database of each company that did not qualify for assistance.

All companies are encouraged to discuss their applications for financial supports with the Development Advisor prior to submitting an application. In some cases, as a result of this discussion, companies may be re-directed to apply for alternative financial supports that are more appropriate to their development needs.

Information in relation to the number of indigenous enterprises that had projects approved for grant aid from the County Enterprise Boards/Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) in each of the past five years to date, and the number of jobs associated with the projects approved, is set out in Table 3 below.

Details of the number of any such applicants deemed to have failed to qualify for any assistance are not collated by the LEOs, since all LEO clients are offered some type of support, including non-financial supports such as business advice, training, mentoring, etc.

Table 1