Financial support is only one aspect of the overall support system for small enterprises which is provided by the 38 partnership companies in the State, writes Colm Ward

A shared love of sport was the inspiration for Billy Barrett and Joe Clarke to set up their own business, Shannonside Sports, which offers sports coaching and fitness services around Limerick city and county.

"A lot of the groups we would work with might be kids that might not be interested in sports so we try to do fun things to get them interested," says Mr Barrett.

Both men had been involved in local football in the Moyross area of Limerick for some years and when the opportunity arose to take part in a Football Association of Ireland (FAI) coaching course, they took it.

Following that, a course in starting up in business gave them the push needed to make their plan a reality. But it was the support from the PAUL Partnership in Limerick that really got Shannonside Sports up and running.

PAUL (People Against Unemployment in Limerick) is a partnership company, one of 38 in the State, whose aim is to combat disadvantage by promoting social inclusion. Part of this involves helping people who are unemployed to develop their own businesses. "The overall remit of the company is the promotion of social inclusion and the work that we do in enterprise support is part of that overall agenda," says Ms Anne Kavanagh, manager of the PAUL partnership.

That support comes in several forms. The company administers the back-to-work allowance on behalf of the Department of Social Welfare. This is a scheme under which people who are considered long-term unemployed are entitled to some social welfare payments over a number of years while they get back into employment. The back-to-work enterprise allowance is aimed at people who, like Mr Barrett and Mr Clarke, opt to set up their own businesses.

Like other partnership companies, PAUL also gives funding in the form of small grants or loans to help people get set up. One such grant awarded to Shannonside Sports was crucial in helping it get off the ground. "We wouldn't have been able to go ahead unless we got the grant at the time," says Mr Barrett.

But the financial help is only one aspect of the overall support system for small enterprises. What is more important for many people is the non-financial support they receive.

"We would also provide an enterprise support centre which is a space for people from the community who are interested in starting up their own business. And that is essentially a one-stop-shop service which as well as providing space also provides mentoring, a book-keeping service and a business planning service for people starting off in business," says Ms Kavanagh.

Under the mentoring scheme, new enterprises are teamed up with a mentor who is generally somebody with experience in setting up and running their own business. Mr Barrett says that their mentor has been a "great help" to them in their first year of business.

PAUL was established in 1989 and became a partnership company in 1992.

Between then and the end of 2001, the company approved 747 people for the back-to-work enterprise allowance scheme. The enterprises set up with its help range from small-scale manufacturing to hairdressing and other services.

Accessibility is an essential element of the enterprise support service, according to Mr Tim Meagher, economic team co-ordinator with PAUL. That means that advisers are always on hand to help anyone who needs it, without having to make an appointment or wait a few days. "Local access is critical," he says.

The partnership movement came about as a result of the Programme for Economic and Social Progress (PESP) in 1991. At the time 12 area-based partnership companies were established by the government as a locally-based response to unemployment and social exclusion. Between 1994 and 1999, the number of partnership companies increased to the present 38 that are based in disadvantaged areas throughout the Republic.

While they may differ in the specific actions they take, all are based on the social partnership model, with State agencies, social partners, elected representatives and the community sector all making up local boards of management. Enterprise support is just one of the means of combating disadvantage.

The partnerships also work closely with their local communities to create education and community development strategies to tackle the problems caused by disadvantage. "The key to the partnership approach is not working in isolation but with all the other partners," says Ms Kavanagh.

Between 1994 and 1999, a total of 13,100 long-term unemployed people set up their own businesses with the help of the partnerships.

Mr Bernard O'Brien, general manager of the Wexford area partnership believes that the enterprise assistance is a low-cost way to create employment. "The success rate is very good and the cost per job is very low. We have had a lot of success with people," he says.

In 2002, the Wexford partnership helped 33 businesses to get set up. The average grant assistance for each - or the cost of creating one job - was about €1,500, says Ms Clare Ryan, enterprise manager.

In addition, many of those who create successful business ventures with the help of the partnership tend to show their "loyalty" by employing others from the live register if they need extra staff, she says.

However, a recent Government decision to change the rules regarding eligibility for the back-to-work allowance has caused concern in the partnership movement.

Currently, people who have been out of work for at least 18 months are considered long-term unemployed and, as such, are eligible for a back-to-work allowance. But one implication of this change is that, with some exceptions, people will now have to be unemployed for five years to be eligible for the scheme.

"We are really quite disappointed that these changes have been made in the scheme," says Mr O'Brien. Any grants that might be awarded to help people start their own businesses would be "meaningless" in the absence of some form of income support, he says.

His disappointment with the decision is shared by Ms Anne Kavanagh, who believes that any extra delays would reduce the chances of people successfully starting their own business. "If people become unemployed and want to start their own business, the sooner they get support to start that business, the more likely they are to be successful," she says.

And, she believes, the importance of these enterprises should not be underestimated. "They're all success stories. Anybody who makes the move from being long-term unemployed into running their own business has to be seen as a success story," she says.

More information on the partnership movement in Ireland can be found on www.planet.ie