Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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520. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to improve supports available to small and medium-sized businesses run by Irish persons based abroad who wish to move their operations back here. [35793/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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There are a broad range of Government supports available to SMEs to help them start, grow and succeed, including access to finance, management development, mentoring, business development, market supports and trade promotion.

The online tool - www.supportingsmes.ie is a cross-governmental initiative to help Irish start-ups and small businesses navigate the range of Government supports. By answering eight quick questions in the online tool, a small business can find out which of the over 170 Government business supports from over 30 different Government departments and agencies are available to them.

The Online Tool also assists business in locating their nearest Local Enterprise Office (LEO). The network of 31 LEOs provides a first stop shop for small businesses seeking supports and for people who wish to start their own business. The LEO financial supports are aimed at micro-enterprises (less than 10 employees). However, businesses with more employees can seek guidance and non-financial supports from the LEOs. For more information please visit www.localenterprise.ie.

Back for Business is a new pilot initiative to foster and support entrepreneurial activity among emigrants returning or recently returned to live in Ireland. This innovative initiative is funded through the Emigrant Support Programme by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which seeks to facilitate in practical ways those who left Ireland and want to return home. The initiative addresses the challenges that all early stage entrepreneurs face with a particular focus on the additional barriers and challenges faced by those who have been out of the country for some time.  This can often result in their local knowledge, contact base and professional and personal networks being less developed than those of typical entrepreneurs.  Back for Business aims to bridge this gap. For more information on the Back for Business initiative please visit www.backforbusiness.com.

Clare Daly (Dublin Fingal, Independent)
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521. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to address barriers (details supplied) to small and medium-sized businesses run by Irish persons based abroad who wish to move their operations back here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35794/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The barriers identified for returning Irish emigrants have been the subject matter of a report, commissioned by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and published in February 2018 – Economic Report on Addressing Challenges Faced by Returning Irish Emigrants. This report - undertaken by Indecon Economic Consultants - includes a chapter on entrepreneurial-related barriers related to difficulties in setting up a business upon return including those barriers outlined in the Deputy's question for those transferring their operations to Ireland. These include barriers to opening bank accounts, transferring driving licenses, company incorporations and the entrepreneurial-related barriers including difficulties in setting up a business upon return, (e.g. re-establishing contact & networks, lack of local market knowledge, knowledge of legal frameworks, lack of expertise, Government & non-Government supports).

This report proposes a number of recommendations aimed at alleviating these barriers. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is driving this initiative and progressing the recommendations of the report with the relevant Government Departments and agencies.

With regard to financial barriers and funding supports, my Department, through Enterprise Ireland, runs the Start in Ireland programme to attract overseas entrepreneurs to start their businesses in Ireland. EI’s website details the supports available to overseas entrepreneurs, eligibility criteria etc.. EI have launched several calls for Competitive Start Funds, with a particular focus on overseas entrepreneurs.

The Companies Registration Office (CRO) is the statutory authority for registering companies in Ireland. The process of incorporation and registration of a company requires delivery of a constitution, a Form A1 containing necessary details on the company and a registration fee, in accordance with the Companies Act 2014 to the Registrar of Companies. On the registration of the constitution, the Registrar will certify in writing that the company is incorporated and issue a certificate of incorporation.

The Companies Act 2014 consolidated the existing 17 Companies Acts, which date from 1963 to 2013, into one Act and introduced a number of reforms, designed to make it easier to operate a company in Ireland. The Act provides significant benefits to companies by reducing unnecessary administrative burdens and making company law obligations easier to understand.

The CRO is the central repository of public statutory information on Irish companies.  To assist anyone considering incorporation of a company, it provides an Information Leaflet on the incorporation process, available free of charge at .

The Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) also provides a Quick Guide and an Information Booklet, available free of charge at .

Information on a range of supports available to assist companies, is available on the , . My Department’s  website also includes a dedicated page on support for SMEs, available at .

DFAT has implemented several of the Indecon Report’s recommendations in relation to information provision. An enhanced ‘Returning to Ireland’ section, containing more information and advice for returning emigrants, has been developed for the dedicated diaspora website, the Global Irish Hub. DFAT is working closely with the Citizen’s Information Board to ensure that returning emigrants have the best information and advice possible to assist them in making the return back to Ireland by preparing and publishing a number of advice notes for people returning to Ireland to live. These are located on its Global Irish website here.  Under the section on finances there are notes on car insurance and on setting up bank accounts. These aspects are within the remit of the Minister for Finance.

Minister of State Cannon has also written to all motor insurance underwriters that operate in Ireland requesting information as to their approach, with a view to further information on motor insurance for returning emigrant drivers being made available.

Details on transferring drivers’ licences are available on the NDLS website,.These are within the remit of the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport.

On the issue of insurance costs, the price of motor insurance as measured by the CPI increased by approximately 40% in the period 2014-2016, but prices have moderated in recent months. The Government recognises that rising insurance costs for enterprise are an issue and the Minister for Finance established the Cost of Insurance Working Group in July 2016. The Group published its first Report on the Cost of Motor Insurance in January 2017.  The establishment of the Personal Injuries Commission, strengthening the power of PIAB in terms of addressing cases of non-cooperation and examining the frequency of the publication of the Book of Quantum, were key recommendations.

In January 2018, following approval by Government, Minister D'Arcy at the Department of Finance published the Cost of Insurance Working Group Report on the Cost of Employer and Public Liability Insurance. This Report makes 15 recommendations with 29 associated actions to be carried out. My Department in conjunction with PIAB has lead responsibility for Recommendation 9, which relates to a review of the operation of the six-month standstill period provided for in the PIAB Act 2003, with a timeline of completion by Quarter 2 of 2019. 

In December 2017, my Department published the First Report of the Personal Injuries Commission. The Report is the first phase of an eighteen-month work programme. Implementation of the actions in this Report will help to bring more consistency to medical reporting and diagnosis of personal injuries, leading to a better functioning personal injuries environment in the future. The Final Report of the Personal Injuries Commission deals mainly with the benchmarking of Irish personal injury award levels and an examination of alternative compensation and resolution models in other jurisdictions and makes a number of recommendations. The purpose of the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Bill 2018 is to amend the existing legislation to strengthen PIAB in terms of operational issues to ensure greater compliance with the PIAB process and encourage more claims to be settled through the PIAB model.  The Bill includes the recommendations from the Cost of Insurance Working Group Motor Report.

The ongoing work of the Personal Injuries Commission and the complementary work of the Cost of Insurance Working Group should contribute to a better functioning personal injury litigation system and should also help to deliver reduced premiums for businesses.