Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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101. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of new small or medium sized enterprises, and the resultant number of jobs created, arising therefrom, in the past three years to date in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18901/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Establishing the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) as a first stop shop for start-ups, micro-enterprises and small businesses means that entrepreneurs have one central place to go where they can get information and assistance in identifying and accessing all available supports, such as financial supports or “soft” supports, such as training and mentoring.

In 2014, a total of 4,012 extra jobs were created by companies supported by the LEOs. The results, which were compiled by the Enterprise Ireland Centre of Excellence on foot of the Annual Employment Survey of LEO clients, show that at the end of 2014, total direct employment among the 6,058 LEO client companies stood at 31,326. The results also show:

-A total of 7,305 new jobs created during 2014, in gross terms;

-Taking into account losses, a net increase of 4,012, or 14%, in the numbers of people at work in these companies;

-Jobs growth happened during 2014 in every county of the country in companies supported by LEOs.

The Deputy will be aware that the system for delivery of support to micro and small enterprises was reformed last year to make the operating environment for businesses more coherent, responsive and conducive to entrepreneurship at local level. As part of that process, the metrics previously being used by the County and City Enterprise Boards (CEBs) were revised and extended to make them more relevant as a means of reporting on the performance of the LEOs. Accordingly, comparative figures for previous years are not available.

Set out below are Enterprise Ireland (EI) job creation figures for the period 2011 to 2014 taken from the Annual Employment Survey for each year. It should be noted that EI employment figures refer to the agency’s overall client base and include jobs created by SMEs.

Enterprise Ireland job creation figures including SME jobs: