Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 October 2012
50. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation the steps he is taking to promote enterprise and employment and address the employment differentials across the State. [41610/12]
View answer51. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation the steps he is taking to address the loss of more than 10,000 jobs in the border region since taking office. [41599/12]
View answer57. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation his views on the reduction in the labour force in the border region by more than 4,000 since taking office. [41600/12]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 51 and 57 together.
The achievement of balanced regional growth is a core objective of the Government. Promoting entrepreneurship, attracting inward investment, helping indigenous companies grow and facilitating the key infrastructural needs of Irish enterprise are key policy instruments for building the competitive advantage of regions and promoting regional growth. The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 is a whole of Government national strategy aimed at creating and sustaining jobs across all regions of the State.
All of our agencies work to promote regional growth opportunities. The IDA has a specific target of delivering 50% of its projects outside Cork and Dublin. Enterprise Ireland and the county enterprise board structure have a strong regional base of companies and active policies to promote their growth. The objective of balanced regional development is supported by the EU Commission’s regional aid guidelines, which recognise that some regions can face significant structural disadvantage. The guidelines permit member states to grant higher investment aid to these areas. Under Ireland’s current regional aid map, the highest rates are afforded to the Border, midlands and west, BMW, region. Under the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, the establishment of a one-stop-shop to provide micro-enterprise support through the dissolution of the existing county enterprise board, CEB, offices and the creation of a new network of local enterprise offices, LEOs, will ensure an enhanced delivery of support to micro-enterprises across all regions.
With regard to the question on the Border region, the agencies’ network of offices includes Sligo, Letterkenny and Dundalk. Significant IDA projects in the Border region in the past 12 months include 175 jobs in Abbott in Sligo and 1,000 jobs in PayPal in Dundalk. There have been specific initiatives in the Border region, including the competitive start-up fund, enterprise development programmes, first-time exporters programme, new frontiers in Sligo and Letterkenny and supports provided by InterTradeIreland.
When we have this debate Government Ministers, unfortunately, tend to identify some successful things that have happened in particular areas. Undoubtedly some successful things are happening but, on balance, the Government is failing disastrously. Areas such as Offaly, Wexford, Carlow, Laois, Longford, Roscommon, Cavan, Westmeath and Monaghan have experienced the highest increases in unemployment in the State. Those areas are really badly serviced in respect of key communications infrastructure such as broadband and so forth, but many of them have had no IDA visits in the past two years. While it is easy to identify a handful of opportunities, the reality is that these areas are suffering significantly due to unemployment and emigration. A more proportionate response is required to redress this. How many IDA visits have these counties received since the Minister was appointed? I hope he will not dance around the question but give figures or, at least, appropriate estimates.
In 2011 there were 69 IDA client companies in the Border region employing a total of 8,223 people. In accordance with the Horizon 2020 strategy launched in 2010, the IDA's specific target for job creation in the period 2010 to 2014 is 105,000 new jobs in IDA-supported companies and a further 42,000 indirect jobs. With regard to facilitating IDA visits, the IDA is working with all its companies throughout the regions from its regional offices. Foreign direct investment has been very successful. There is also the record level of exports from Ireland at present at €173 billion. The challenge, as always, is to get the employer matched with the location.
The IDA is failing our heartlands with regard to job creation. Those areas that gave the most votes to Fine Gael in the last election are receiving the least number of IDA visits.
The Deputy should look at the BMW region and the accelerated level of incentives that were given in the Border region.
It is all in Galway. Nowhere else has received it.
The IDA brings in the potential investor. It is about location but there is a big emphasis on the north west and Border regions. I agree there is a difficulty getting people out of the main centres and the job of the Government is to encourage the IDA to support that. Obviously, however, business is driven by its customer and that determines its preferred location.
The IDA has had a successful year to date, with many announcements, and we should recognise client companies created more than 13,000 jobs in 2011, up 20% on the previous figure of 10,897 in 2010. There was an overall increase of 70% in the number of investments by IDA client companies in 2011. Despite the current global economic situation and a strong increase in international competition, there were 148 new investments won during the year across all industrial sectors.
I will focus specifically on Donegal as an example of the Government's failure to stimulate job creation in the Border region. From the recent CSO statistics, we know between 26% and 30% of the working population of Donegal is out of work. That is a shocking statistic. In some electoral districts up to 40% of all age groups are unemployed and emigration is rampant across the county. The Government not only focused foreign direct investment on one location in the county, Letterkenny, it then planned to withdraw the IDA offices from the town. It withdrew funding from the A5 road, a critical project to help Donegal, and there is no plan that might improve on what came before. Will the Minister of State outline to me his specific plans for job creation for Donegal?
The focus of Government agencies is to create jobs. Unemployment in Donegal is very high. The Border region has an unemployment rate of 16.3% compared with the national average of 14.7%. To get foreign direct investment into Donegal, or even indigenous start-up companies, the local enterprise officers will be rolled out, which will start with small companies, which will be the driver of the engine of growth in the economy. They will also work with the third level institutes to facilitate the private sector. Innovation vouchers are available to help those with an idea to commercialise it. While getting a big company to locate there is very welcome, start-up companies are also very important and there are a number of such companies that believe opportunity still exists.
I agree this is a challenge but it is difficult, despite the success of the IDA, to give a clear, specific plan. There will be a focus on the north-west offices with the IDA, which brings investors into Donegal all the time. It is to be hoped there will be direct engagement that will benefit Donegal. That is my commitment as Minister of State, to ensure we get employment into the north west.
Donegal should also take up the coastal development opportunities outlined by the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine on the development of fisheries. All those offer potential employment. This is a challenging job but the focus of Government is to attract foreign direct investment into Ireland. There have been a number of overseas trips by Ministers and delegations and they are making a difference.
When is it proposed to supply sat-navs to the IDA so it can find County Kerry?
