Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 February 2013
15. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps being taken to promote investment in the midland and western regions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9036/13]
View answerIn addition to the work of the enterprise development agencies operating under the aegis of my Department, whose statutory function is, in the case of IDA Ireland, to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and, in the case of Enterprise Ireland, to support indigenous industry, the Action Plan for Jobs forms a key element of this Government's approach to rebuilding the economy and getting people back to work. Under the Action Plan process, the Government publish a series of measures to support job creation and retention each year.
The 2012 Action Plan for Jobs, which was published in February 2012, provided a comprehensive framework for actions right across Government and the public sector to support economic growth and job creation. The Enterprise Development agencies were at the forefront of implementing the Action Plan for Jobs across all regions. I am pleased to say that 2012 was a particularly good year for job creation in Agency supported companies with IDA client companies creating a total of 12,722 new jobs and Enterprise Ireland client companies creating a total of 12,861 new jobs.
In the midlands and western regions, there are in excess of 39,000 people employed in full and part time employment by IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland client companies.
For IDA purposes, the Midlands and West Region consists of the Counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath, Galway and Mayo. The key sectors of focus for the Regions are life sciences, information and communications technologies and high value services activities. IDA primarily promotes the city of Galway and the towns of Athlone, Mullingar and Tullamore to potential investors. In addition to attracting new FDI, IDA also works closely with its existing client companies with a view to getting them to upgrade and consolidate their existing businesses. The agency also works closely with the educational institutions and FÁS with a view to providing specialised training to those interested in upskilling.
Enterprise Ireland’s Midland region consists of Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath while the Western Region consists of Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. EI has a number of support programmes to address the multi-disciplinary demands of entrepreneurship and the diversity of business types in the indigenous sector. The agency supports companies to achieve productivity gains, internationalisation and export growth. It assists with research and development, management skills acquisition, market information and seed and venture capital.
As the Deputy will be aware, my Department recently introduced two targeted National schemes to support an additional flow of credit to SMEs, namely, the Microenterprise Loan Fund and the Credit Guarantee Scheme. These schemes will support business investment, job maintenance and job creation around the country.
Work on facilitating access to finance for all viable businesses will remain a priority in the context of the forthcoming Action Plan for Jobs 2013. The 2013 Action Plan for Jobs, which will be published shortly, will outline how the Government proposes to ensure that the target of creating 100,000 new jobs over the period 2012 to 2016 will be achieved.
