Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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77. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to introduce grant aid for the development of enterprise centres by local statutory agencies or community organisations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23038/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Since the launch of the first Community Enterprise Centre (CEC) scheme in 1989, €64 million has been approved for the development of CECs across the country.  Since 1989, 157 centres have been approved for financial support - of which 117 have been completed. These centres collectively employ 6,051 people across 1,214 companies.

Most recently, a €5m Community Enterprise Initiative Scheme was launched in June 2015.118 applications were considered with a total value of €12.3m.  There was strong demand for the funding and the process was highly competitive. In June 2016, I announced that 32 applications were successful and these projects amounted to €3.06m.

I will shortly be launching a €60 million Competitive Regional Fund across 2017 - 2020 to further support collaborative approaches to boost enterprise and job creation throughout the country.

CECs will be eligible to apply for this competitive funding. However, I am conscious that the sustainability of the CEC’s is an on-going issue. Therefore proposals for any funding will need to demonstrate that self-sustainability is a key objective.