Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton made an appeal for more start-ups when he launched an online guide for SMEs in Dublin on Monday.

He was speaking in Tallaght, Dublin, where he officially opened the South Dublin Local Enterprise Office along with Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Pat Rabbitte.

“The truth is that we need more start-ups. They are the life blood of any economy. Here we have a powerful alliance created between the old county enterprise board, the local authority and Enterprise Ireland to drive start ups in South County Dublin,” Mr Burton said.

He said it was time to invest in emerging companies that could create huge numbers of jobs.

Mr Rabbitte said the challenge facing the Government was to continue to build on “the achievement of 61,000 net new jobs last year”. He said the creation of Local Enterprise Offices across the country would give would-be entrepreneurs access to a range of services and advice to enable them to contribute to their local areas.

“This is a very important rational and sensible restructuring of local employment services,” he said.

The South Dublin LEO is part of a network of 31 such offices across the State. The “Supporting SMEs” online guide is designed to help small businesses understand which Government supports could potentially assist them.

Mr Bruton said it was clear that many businesspeople were simply not aware of the State supports that could help them. He said: “’Supporting SMEs’ makes it clear, in a simple, easily comprehensible format, what supports a particular business might be eligible for and how to go about accessing them.

“Between this and the Local Enterprise Offices, it will after today be significantly easier for businesses to access State supports to help them start-up and grow their businesses.”