Vol. 525 No. 3
169 Mr. McGinley asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if she has satisfied herself that the employment agencies are achieving the employment goals of the Donegal Employment Initiative Task Force. [25130/00]
The report of the Donegal Employment Initiative envisaged that the setting of realistic job creation targets for foreign direct investment and the growth of the indigenous sector would be undertaken as part of the follow-up action through mechanisms such as the county development board. The county development board was established in March of this year and has undertaken a co-ordinating role with regard to the implementation of the recommendations of the report.
Both Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, the development agencies which come under my remit, have reorganised their Donegal-based services to deal with actions arising from the report. IDA Ireland is actively seeking to increase the Objective One region's share of jobs in greenfield projects from 25%, at present, to 50%. Enterprise Ireland has recently articulated a clear regional development mission and will be devoting greater resources to boosting the indigenous sector and the potential for high growth firms.
In February 2000, I announced details of a major investment package leading to the creation of 202 new jobs for Donegal. Most of these jobs are in the international trade services area. A key feature of the announcement is the number of expansions of longer established enterprises which are strengthening their capability through investment in technology, people, product development and market development.
