Enterprise board staff to retain jobs in shake-up

THE MINISTER for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has signalled that staff at county enterprise boards will retain their posts after their organisations are abolished this year.

Richard Bruton told reporters in Galway yesterday that staff at the 35 boards “will all be retained”.

An implementation plan, which was at its early stages, would involve “working out the human resources dimension” and “how that will bed in”.

“The key is that we will have quality service, a centre of excellence in Enterprise Ireland, and a new range of policy instruments at the disposal of the local offices,” Mr Bruton said.

Under proposals announced by the Government last year, the 35 boards will be replaced by units within local authorities and a unit dedicated to small businesses will be set up within Enterprise Ireland.

“So you will now have seamless access for small businesses to all the range of services,” Mr Bruton said before he addressed a Galway meeting about his plan for jobs.

“We also believe that, by creating a centre of excellence within Enterprise Ireland for all small businesses, we actually enhance the development of the service over time for the local enterprise offices.

“This is delivering a one-stop shop service within the local authorities. It is a great opportunity for local authorities to shape up to the challenge and make sure their business service and support for small businesses is up to very high standards.”

Local authorities would be “benchmarked” as part of this, and would serve as part of the solution in assisting small entrepreneurs. He added that, in effect, it would be a “win-win situation”.

Initial meetings had been held, but an implementation group would revert to him on a timeline, Mr Bruton said.