Written Answers. - Job Creation.
James Leonard
Question:
27
Mr. Leonard
asked the
Minister for Enterprise and Employment
the number of jobs provided in each Border county over the past two years as a result of Forbairt and IFI North American involvement, the partnership programme, the Forbairt small business administration partnership programme, the American management business programme, AMBIT, and the Washington Conference on Trade and Investment in Ireland.
[5937/97]
I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that it is not possible to pin down specific job numbers to these programmes, given the nature of them. However, the following table shows gross gains, job losses and the net change in employment for Forbairt client companies in the Border region for the past two years.
|
Border Counties
|
1995
|
1996
|
|
Job gains
|
Job losses
|
Net change
|
Job gains
|
Job losses
|
Net change
|
|
Cavan
|
123
|
–234
|
–111
|
215
|
–171
|
44
|
|
Donegal
|
328
|
–252
|
76
|
273
|
–312
|
–39
|
|
Leitrim
|
89
|
–45
|
44
|
164
|
–155
|
9
|
|
Louth
|
375
|
–438
|
–63
|
349
|
–326
|
23
|
|
Monaghan
|
430
|
–264
|
166
|
492
|
–395
|
97
|
|
Sligo
|
158
|
–49
|
109
|
185
|
–131
|
54
|
|
Total
|
1,503
|
–1,282
|
221
|
1,678
|
–1,490
|
188
|
I am pleased to say that the net change in employment in relation to Forbairt client companies in the Border counties over the past two years, 1995-96, has yielded a total of 409 net jobs.
In terms of reporting progress on the programmes, a number of partnerships between Irish and US firms have been established over the two year period and negotiations are ongoing with other potential multinational clients. While it is expected that jobs will eventually emerge from this process, these will come about more in the long, rather than the short term.
The 1995 Washington conference and the 1996 Pittsburgh conference helped primarily to put the focus on the area as a potential location for new US inward investment, resulting in a number of schemes being put in place, geared towards establishing partnerships between Irish and US companies.
The North American Partnership Programme for the Border Counties (NAPP), promoted by Forbairt and the International Fund for Ireland, aims to encourage partnerships with Irish companies in the six Border counties. Phase 1 was launched in February 1995, resulting in nine partnerships being created. Phase 2 was launched in May 1996, with ten companies involved in it and five more companies are expected to join the programme during 1997. The benefits in terms of jobs from these agreements will be realised over a two to three year period. Already four companies participating in NAAP have attracted venture capital investment of approximately £1 million which augurs well for their success.
The American Management Business Internship Training Programme (AMBIT) was launched at the Washington conference. It is also designed to help foster partnerships between companies in the region and suitable US businesses. To date six companies from the region have participated in this programme.
In November 1995, the US-Ireland Business Partnership Programme was launched in order to facilitate and support the forging of business partnerships between Irish and US small enterprises. To date, seven partnership arrangements have resulted from the first business partnership mission which also took place at this time and a further four situations where negotiations are at an advanced stage. A further mission took place in Chicago in June 1996, which has resulted in four partnership agreements being arranged and a further ten are under negotiation.
The foregoing programmes are just a small sample of what is currently happening in terms of Irish/US partnerships. My Department and the agencies which fall within my remit also have been and continue to be involved in a number of cross-Border initiatives to promote and develop industry, these being as follows:
— The ACUMEN Programme is a cross-Border sales/business development programme. It supports small and medium companies to increase cross-Border sales and to develop other forms of commercial co-operation in both parts of Ireland. The programme is actively supported by the main economic development agencies, including Forbairt, FÁS and Cavan County Enterprise Board.
— The IFI/Business Enterprise Programme aims to stimulate local enterprise, create awareness of the potential for self-employment and encourage business to grow profitably, develop and seek new markets and to increase their competitiveness. Forbairt and Cavan County Enterprise Board are represented on the management board of the programme.
— Another initiative, apart from the White House conference, to help accelerate industrial and economic development as an aid to promoting a permanent cessation of violence is the EU initiative for a Special Support Programme for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland and the Border Counties, the Delors package.
— In addition, there is the INTERREG Programme which is an EU initiative for the Border counties and Northern Ireland, excluding Belfast. This has proved a very useful addition in relation to my Department's various promotional strategies.
The agencies have found that the key factor in promoting successful overseas investment to the Border counties, as well as the rest of the country, is the availability of the type of infrastructural environment consistent with the needs of modern industrial and service undertakings. The Government, through its various industrial development policy measures, is committed to creating such an environment and the agencies, for their part, are working hard to assist Irish firms improve their competitiveness and so increase their attractiveness to overseas clients.
