Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 5 November 2013
408. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his position regarding the designation of the south east NUTS 3 region for regional state aid since the region clearly meets both the GDP and unemployment eligibility criteria as outlined under the European Commission's new guidelines on regional state aid for 2014-2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46962/13]
View answerThe Regional Aid Guidelines enable the State’s industrial development agencies to pay grants, at enhanced rates, to businesses in order to support new investment and new employment in productive projects in Ireland's most disadvantaged regions. This helps the convergence of these regions with the more advantaged regions of the Union. All such grants come from the exchequer, i.e. there is no EU or other external funding.
The new guidelines were adopted by the Commission on 19 June 2013, and will enter into force on 1 July 2014. As a result, the current guidelines that were due to expire at the end of this year are to be extended for a six month transition period.
During the Regional Aid Guideline process thus far, my Department has consulted relevant stakeholders including various Government Departments, the industrial development agencies, Údarás na Gaeltachta, Forfás, the Central Statistics Office, the Border Midland and Western Regional Assembly, the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly, and the eight Regional Authorities, and this consultation is ongoing.
It will not be possible to include all regions in the map. Instead, qualifying regions up to a maximum of 51.28% of the total population can be included. My officials are currently compiling the most up to date economic data for each region and county, including the South East NUTS 3 Region, in order to determine which areas will qualify for inclusion in a revised Regional Aid Map for Ireland. Relevant data includes comparative unemployment levels and GDP by county. Once this data has been compiled and analysed, qualifying regions will be included in the new map. This must be agreed by Government and submitted to the Commission by the end of June, 2014.
