Brendan Smith urges dedicated fund for enterprise centre workspace

Brendan Smith. As we know, the development of enterprise centres and the development of workspace through enterprise centres has been particularly important in supporting the creation of employment. I know my own two counties, Cavanaugh and Monaghan, have benefited from such developments. We all know of one or two-person businesses that went on to be major national and international companies. I believe now that we need a new approach to the entire development of workspace and the development of enterprise centres. We needed a dedicated fund and we need substantial support to be channelled by incentivising the private sector and or through supporting our local enterprise offices and our local authorities. Thank you, Cahirleach. Minister Ingrid. Thank you for your question and for your support for enterprise centres and the general principle of investing in them, and like yourself, in that day we spent in Cavanaugh and Monaghan, we have seen the benefits of investing in these centres and enterprise centres as well. We are keen to target investment and to match taxpayers' money along with private money along with local authority and other funds as well to get the benefit of these as much as we possibly can. The enterprise centres provide important infrastructure for entrepreneurs and are an essential part of the start-up ecosystem across Ireland. The centres, many of which are regionally based, provide space, mentoring and support to start-up founders and teams, helping them to scale internationally and also assisting companies on their growth strategies. As I do want to expand and move out, maybe the backyard or the office would have had to grow and expand. To date, my department has provided funding of 250 million administered by Enterprise Ireland to support the establishment of some 270 enterprise centres throughout Ireland, of which approximately 40 of these centres originate from the regional enterprise plans. This investment has enabled the establishment of a physical space for entrepreneurs, start-up scaling companies, SMEs and a balance of small-scale FTI. This has enabled the delivery of enterprise relevant programmes to companies and the provision of physical spaces to support remote working. The conversation we would have had in Cavanaugh and Monaghan was around the need for more physical space and property solutions. That is something that we want to work on through the regional enterprise plans and the funds that have been conferred for them as well. Since 2017, Enterprise Ireland has administered department funding to 91 projects, totalling £16.4 million on both the regional enterprise development fund and the community enterprise centre schemes. On November 2020, £8.24 million in grants administered through Enterprise Ireland for 95 enterprise centres around the country was announced. This funding will also help ensure that these enterprise centres, many of which have been negatively impacted by COVID-19, can sustain their businesses, pivot and further development services to continue to assist the development of our own start-up companies. Currently, one final point that will be of interest to you, Deputy, is that Enterprise Ireland at this moment have an open regional development feasibility fund. It is available to promote or seek to scope out and investigate the viability of large or full-scale projects. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Minister. Thank you, Minister. We had very good meetings with the Cabinet Monaghan and local enterprise offices and the local authorities as well. Minister, as you know, the topography of Cabinet Monaghan and developing sites there is very expensive. I know of one particular project that I and other public representatives support at Cabinet Monaghan County Council in drawing down limited Government support to develop sites and actually to service the sites to make them accessible to build an access road and provide services just to enable buildings to be put in place. They got less than a million euro in support. Now, the buildings that are on that site, we would hope that in the future it would enable the creation of more than 300 jobs. That would be a very significant return on very small Government investment. But the local authority had to put up very substantial funds that they do not have. You take local authorities like Cabinet Monaghan with a very small rate space and they are stretched to get the matching funding to draw down very worthwhile Government support for different schemes. So, Minister, I believe we need a dedicated fund that will incentivise the private sector and or enable the local authorities and local enterprise offices to provide the work space directly in the enterprise centres themselves. Thank you. I know the point you raised and I do remember reviewing that site and you are right, the great potential here to create jobs. I think we are very clear on this across our own department and the Department of Rule and Community Development. We are very keen to support the development of working spaces, development of sites and an office space and factory space for those who want to create jobs. We want and are determined to have a jobs-led recovery as we come out of COVID, we can achieve that. But that does mean that we have to support those who are involved in creating those jobs. And a part of that is around property solutions. So, the funding that is available through the regional enterprise plans to the Department of Rural and Community Development, through our own department and development agencies in conjunction with local authorities can help achieve this. I think there are mechanisms here to find those funds that you refer to that are needed to develop those sites. I do recognise that in some counties, local authorities do not have the right place to support the ongoing investment in delivery of sites. But also, under the town centre force approach and other centres that are there, there are mechanisms to achieve this. And we have to join up the dots. And I am determined to work with you and your local authorities to achieve that. I am also conscious in some parts of the country commercial property is expensive to develop. And without intervention by the State, through these schemes it might not be possible to create the space needed to create the jobs. So, we will continue to work with you on that. Deputy Governor Deey. Minister, in respect of the provision of Workspace Enterprise Centre, there is a market failure in that developers will not construct such workspace in areas like Cavanagh Monaghan, because they will not get the rent return. That is the best knowledge that is available to me. That is supported at an official level and a private sector level in regard to their assessment. Minister, we need to support the local authorities to a much greater extent in opening up lands and developing services. Then we need a dedicated fund to put the work space in place, because if we are to further develop jobs at local level, which we all hope for, we need work clusters. In many instances in my own two counties, we have businesses that started off on bi-roads and along laneways. Nowadays, with the emphasis on the right and protecting environment, we want to see as much of our employment clustered in our towns and villages, so there are great opportunities ahead to develop small clusters, small industrial parks that will provide the necessary work space for the person starting off a business who does not have the capital to provide their own enterprise centre or workspace. I believe we should have a new beginning in relation to funding the development of enterprise centres. Thank you. Mr Minister, we hope to, during the month of February, launch the regional enterprise plans for Minister Tray and the other, and part of that will be funding a range of actions throughout our counties around the Constance of the said. I think we are launching your one in the cabin, if I am correct. That gives us an opportunity to throw the funding that is set out there, which is quite substantial funding over the next four or five years to fund those plans, the three-year plans, and there are actions being put forward that will exactly achieve what you want to achieve. But I do agree with you, in some of our counties, it is not viable to build some of these commercial units based on the wealth base that could be achieved for them. We have a similar difficulty in relation to housing in different parts of the country, and that is why the State did step in under a range of schemes to close that gap as well, and a similar approach, working with local authorities, we can achieve an outcome and delivery of more property solutions for jobs, because I know that in some cases a developer won't develop it if he can't get his rent or she, and why would they? But likewise, we have to bring forward actions, and I would draw your attention to that regional development feasibility fund, which is worthwhile encouraging any private sectors who have an interest in developing a remote working hub or office space to look at that first, to bring forward a project that we can then find funding for. Thank you.