Taoiseach Brian Cowen today announced a €3.3 million injection of funding for county and city enterprise boards (CEBs), which he said would create over 450 jobs.
There are 35 county and city enterprise boards around the country providing support for firms employing 10 or fewer staff in the start-up and expansion phases. They provide business development grants, training and mentoring to small businesses.
The €3.3 million capital allocation announced today is in addition to the €15 million already provided this year to the boards.
Mr Cowen said the money would help the boards to assist new business start-ups and support existing enterprises.
“Jobs are the central priority of Government policy and the CEBs create and protect jobs in communities throughout the country,” Mr Cowen said. ‘The CEBs’ local focus and agile ability to respond quickly to specific business needs are key components in the Government’s overall policy to support entrepreneurship, growth and productivity in the micro-enterprise sector.”
Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe said the boards “play a pivotal role in stimulating local economic development by sustaining and growing the micro-enterprise sector.”
CEB-supported companies created 30.726 jobs between 1993 and 2009, he said.
“In addition, significant numbers of people were supported in various management training and capability development programmes,” Mr O’Keeffe said.
He said the money came from savings identified within his own department’s overall budget.
Fine Gael’s enterprise, jobs and economic planning spokesman John Bruton said that despite the extra monies, funding for enterprise boards was still down 10 per cent on last year.
“This comes at a time when potential new start-ups have increased by 20 per cent as people displaced from jobs try to develop ideas,” he said.
“Three of the four Dublin enterprise boards actually ran out of money during the summer, which meant they could not provide further supports for job creation and protection,” he said. “Those summer months represent a wasted opportunity which the Government could easily have addressed.”