Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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39. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation under the Action Plan for Jobs, the concrete measures that will be taken to improve the supports for self-employed persons and entrepreneurs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18354/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The 2015 Action Plan for Jobs sets out a comprehensive range of measures to support entrepreneurship, SMEs and the self-employed in the areas of education and research, business environment and supports, innovation and access to finance, networks and mentoring; and, access to markets. Increasing entrepreneurial activity is a Disruptive Reform in the Action Plan for Jobs for 2015. Our key priority is driving implementation of the actions in the National Entrepreneurship Statement, which was published in October last year and to achieve the ambitions targets set out for a 25% increase in the number of start-ups and in the scaling and sustainability of new enterprises. The launch of the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) was a major reform delivered in 2014 and the clients of the LEOs increased employment by 4,012 last year to 31,326 jobs throughout the country. In 2015 the LEOs will have ambitious and robust county strategies and targets for start-ups, enterprise engagements and supports to be effective first-stop-shops for enterprise information and supports and launch an Entrepreneur Partnering Programme.

My Department through its agencies will build on the 2014 success of the awards programmes such as Ireland’s Best Young Entrepreneur with a renewed programme for 2015.

When it comes to promoting prosperity through job creation, the role of new entrepreneurs can hardly be overstated, with two-thirds of new jobs created by firms in their first five years. Enterprise Ireland works to increase the number of companies starting-up, succeeding, expanding, exporting and ultimately creating jobs in Ireland. EI’s support system for young companies includes help with business planning, mentoring and development advice, feasibility funding and finance, often in the form of equity investment, as appropriate to the founder’s ambitions and the company’s potential and stage of growth. Enterprise Ireland has set itself an ambitious target of 550 new and early start-ups supported by 2016.

Enterprise Ireland’s ten regional offices work closely with entrepreneurs, local development agencies and local representative bodies offering a wide range of supports for entrepreneurship. Building on the success achieved to date on the Competitive Feasibility Funds, EI will launch four targeted funds during the year in the West, Midlands, MidEast, and one sectoral fund.

Early stage companies continue to face difficulties in accessing the necessary funding required to develop and to enable entrepreneur’s to achieve their vision for their company. Enterprise Ireland also continues to support the development of the Seed and Venture Capital and Business Angel sectors to increase the provision of early stage funding to support entrepreneurs and early stage companies. A further call for expressions of interest under the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2013-2018 will be issued by the end of Q2.

In many cases the lack of a first reference sale is a key barrier to accessing funding at an early stage. Early intervention through entrepreneur development programmes such as New Frontiers and others workshops and accelerator programmes helps companies accelerate their business development and to build up the skills and contacts needed to successfully start and grow. EI will support 130 new Entrepreneurs via the New Frontiers programme in 2015.

The launch of the simplified Startup Refunds for Entrepreneurs Scheme (SURE) in 2015 will provide additional finance for entrepreneurs. A range of agricultural related measures are being implemented including steps to maximise available agricultural land with measures to encourage long term leasing. We are also continuing to supporting the tourism sector with retention of 9% VAT rate. More broadly improvements in personal taxation will benefit the self-employed and entrepreneurs and support growth in demand across the economy.