Written answers
Thursday, 9 June 2016
Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation
Enterprise Ireland Funding
Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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229. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of funding that will be allocated on a county per county basis under the local enterprise offices competitive fund, in tabular form, following the Enterprise Ireland announcement on 1 June 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15278/16]
Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Competitive Fund is targeted at collaborative initiatives between LEOs aimed at fostering increased collaboration, networking and a joined-up approach to national, regional and local micro-enterprise capability building, growth and job creation.
A table details the collaborative projects that have been approved for funding, together with the LEO project partners, project description and the amounts approved.
| Partner LEO / Others | Project Description | Amount Approved |
|---|---|---|
| LEOs Wicklow, Tipperary, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and other private and public partners | Consolidate a creative hub in the South Eastern region through an extensive networking and training programme for established SMEs and Start Ups servicing the creative industries. | €250,000 |
| LEOs Cork North & West, Cork South, Cork City, Kerry and other private and public partners | Develop a Graduate Programme, placing high performing graduates in micro enterprises for a 12 month accredited assignment in order to support the accelerated growth of the hosting business. The placement will form part of existing Masters Programmes and will span a range of disciplines. | €220,000 |
| LEOs Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth, and Enterprise Ireland | ACCELINVEST will be to create a clear pathway for export focused, investment-ready regional companies to progress from the LEO Network to Enterprise Ireland. | €175,000 |
| LEOs Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny and Carlow | A South East Artisan Food initiative to establish a cluster of fledgling food exporters across 5 counties and develop the export capability of a selection of artisan food clients | €120,000 |
| LEOs Kilkenny, Carlow, Wicklow and other private partners | The EMBARK Programme will proactively prepare small businesses, identified by the LEOs as having potential for growth and export, to exploit new export opportunities. | €34,890 |
| LEOs Mayo, Roscommon, Galway and other private and public partners | iFactory West aims to scale up 30 companies with growth potential across the West region through an intensive innovation programme suited to their individual needs. | €194,550 |
| LEOs Wexford, Waterford, Wicklow, Tipperary, Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare and Laois | A pilot programme that will offer carefully selected micro-enterprises with growth ambitions the opportunity to benefit from concentrated support from the dedicated advisory panel of 3 experts per enterprise. | €50,000 |
| LEOs Westmeath, Laois, Offaly and Longford | The Midlands Engineering Cluster Programme is a structured programme of market-led innovation, best practice transfer and product and trade development. It will create a new synergy between engineering enterprises; educational institutions and support agencies in the region that will aid their sustainability. | €118,000 |
| LEOs Fingal, Dublin City, South Dublin, Dun Laoghaire Rathdown and other public partners | This project is targeted at the Dublin food producer cohort and focuses on the creation of an online video education platform to enhance knowledge, improve skill sets and develop producer competencies. | €157,600 |
| LEOs Offaly, Westmeath, Longford and Laois | The Midlands One to Two Growth Initiative will break down inherent job creation obstacles by assisting carefully selected solo entrepreneurs from across the Midlands in overcoming the legal, regulatory and administrative barriers to adopting employer status, thus stimulating new employment creation and business expansion. | €62,045 |
| LEO Sligo, Donegal and other private and public partners | The programme is aimed at two particular cohorts of businesses, i.e. existing LEO clients and artisan producers trading in farmers’ markets and other similar early stage niches. The main objectives of the programme will be to increase the business potential and expertise of promoters, to foster innovation and know-how, increase turnover and sales and to equip participants to trade in new markets. | €27,000 |
| LEO Tipperary, Wicklow and other private and public partners | Develop a strong Digital Media and Gaming corridor linking the Mid-West and the South & East Regions, building on existing strengths, heighten awareness of the potential of the creative industries and assist in diversifying the current employment base. | €47,740 |
| LEOs Leitrim, Cavan, Roscommon, Longford and other private and public partners | The Graduate Internship for Entrepreneurship Programme. Through this programme, graduates will be connected with full-time, paid internship centred on a two way skills transfer – graduates will transfer new skills and approaches, employers will transfer entrepreneurial learning and experience of running/managing a business. | €146,648 |
| LEOs Leitrim, Cavan, Longford Roscommon and other private and public partners | This initiative will provide the opportunity for shared learning, dynamic trade development and knowledge transfer in the creative sector which will result in job creation and greater sustainability of the often challenged creative sector with a specific emphasis on the craft sector. | €70,700 |
| LEOs Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, Kilkenny and other private and public partners | This programme will explore the potential for higher levels of innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity in agricultural technology (AgTech) | €25,000 |
| LEO Galway, Mayo, Roscommon and other private and public partners | This will create a gateway to the lucrative London market for West-based micro food and drinks enterprises, through a shared co-operation logistics and market development model. | €214,500 |
Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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230. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount of funding that will be allocated on a county per county basis under the community enterprise initiative, in tabular form, following the Enterprise Ireland announcement on 1 June 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15279/16]
Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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118 applications for the Community Enterprise Initiative Competitive Fund were considered with a total value of €12.3m. There was strong demand for the funding and the process was highly competitive with a threshold mark of 60 to be reached to be successful. The primary criteria and basis for marking the applications were:
- Representation of community interests
- Financial need and viability/Value For Money
- Employment creation prospects
- Collaboration
- Future prospects/sustainability
32 applications exceeded the threshold, following assessment by an external assessor and Committee adjudication and approval by Enterprise Ireland. The value of the successful projects amounted to €3.06m.
The amount of funding that is being offered to individual projects under the Community Enterprise Initiative involves, in certain cases, commercially sensitive issues and must therefore remain confidential. For that reason, it is not possible to give the amount of funding on a county per county basis. In line with existing protocols, Enterprise Ireland will list what it has actually paid to individual entities as part of the Enterprise Ireland Annual Report.
Due to the high demand, Enterprise Ireland will issue a further call for proposals in Quarter 3 this year. This new call will be open to those that may have been unsuccessful under the first call for proposals and also to new applicants. Enterprise Ireland will work with all applicants that apply for funding under the second call for proposals.
I will engage closely with Enterprise Ireland to continue to roll out a series of new competitive regional funding initiatives that deliver on the potential of local and regional strengths; and promote collaboration among the various public and private interests to create new enterprises and jobs.
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