Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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85. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding start-ups; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7633/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Any barriers to entrepreneurship are of concern to this Government and we have studiously addressed this issue since March 2011.

In October 2014 I published the first ever National Entrepreneurship Policy Statement which sets out the Government's strategic objectives in key areas that impact on entrepreneurs and startups, and signposts the direction which policy will take in the coming years. The Policy Statement highlights that it is essential that entrepreneurs are not inhibited or discouraged by red tape and unnecessary bureaucracy. The Government has committed to continue with focused work on key areas such as reducing the administrative burdens facing startups, including the length of time it takes to register a new business and the burden of applying for licences.

Work is ongoing to significantly reduce the time and cost of company incorporations. Over the past three years alone the Companies Registration Office (CRO) has reduced processing time i.e. maximum number of days to register a new company by three days and the cost of registration by one third, achievements due to augmenting its online business registration facility. In 2013, the average processing time was 13 days. The target for 2015 is 7 days.

My Department's reduction of administrative burdens on business by 25% between 2008 and 2012 will benefit all businesses, but especially startup, micro and small businesses, for whom the burden of regulation is proportionally higher, due to their small size.

Successful initiatives include:

- Company Law, savings of €82.5 million per annum have already been realised, more than €33 million of which are due to the work of the Companies Registration Office (CRO), as companies can submit their annual returns online via the CRO website and can now use digital signatures for the B1 Form and Accounts.

- In Health & Safety Law, a total of €124 million in annual administrative savings for business has been delivered by the HSA via two key projects: the BeSMART online tool for preparing the Risk Assessment and Safety Statement (€60m), and the SMP20 Guidelines (€64m), which assist construction firms with fewer than 20 employees in establishing and maintaining an effective safety management system.

An integrated licensing system will also be introduced. A key goal of the proposed system is to support the licence application process through the provision of a single portal or website through which businesses will be able to apply for, and renew, a multiplicity of licences. The new licensing system will be developed for the retail sector in the first instance and rolled out to other sectors of the economy thereafter.

With regard to registering for tax, customer service standards for business tax registration require that 100% of such applications are completed within 5 working days, with the exception of 10 working days for VAT registration applications. In order to facilitate the prompt and efficient registration of business taxes, Revenue's online eRegistration system includes services for the online registration and cancellation of a number of business taxes. In all applications made through eRegistration with the exception of Value Added Tax (VAT) and Relevant Contract Tax (RCT), registration and risk assessment is an automated process which is completed within a single overnight period.