Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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244. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department has conducted assessments or studies on the job creation potential of social enterprises, as suggested by an organisation (details supplied); and if so, the findings and recommendations of those studies. [36417/24]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Social Enterprises are an important and growing part of Ireland’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, creating jobs and stimulating local economic activity, and are recognised as an integral part of Ireland’s broad enterprise policy landscape.

Policy responsibility for social enterprises lies with the Department of Rural and Community Development and in July this year my colleague Minister Heather Humphreys launched ‘Trading for Impact 2024-2027’ -Ireland’s National Social Enterprise Policy which will help sustain and grow the social enterprise sector.

In 2023 the OECD published their report on Boosting Social Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Development in Ireland, which provided an in-depth analysis of social entrepreneurship and social enterprises in Ireland. It identifies the country’s strengths and challenges and provides several recommendations for the development of Social Enterprises in Ireland, which continues to influence Government’s Social Enterprise Policy.

In May this year Minister Burke and I launched the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) Policy Statement, which outlines how LEOs will align their work with the priorities of the White Paper on Enterprise going forward, setting out the roadmap and future direction of LEOs. The LEO Policy Statement affirms the intention to grow the reach of the LEOs to provide support to all small businesses including Social Enterprises.

There has been positive engagement between this Department, Social Enterprise Republic of Ireland, and the Department of Rural and Community Development in recent months. Enterprise Ireland and SERI have continued to engage over the summer, and an information webinar will be arranged later this month, which will be attended by representatives from all 31 Local Enterprise Offices and SERI. The aim of the webinar is to provide clarity on the range of supports available to social enterprises through the LEOs and the eligibility criteria of these supports.