Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 6 March 2014
89. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the reason Waterford was excluded from the recent Taking Care of Business seminars in view of the fact that it is a regional capital, has a large business community, and faces specific economic challenges as identified by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Enterprise Jobs and Innovation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11201/14]
View answerThe inaugural ‘Taking Care of Business’ event took place in Dublin in October last year. This event brought together a co-ordinating group of 27 Agencies and public bodies who organised and participated in this event. Feedback from the attendees was extremely positive and included a suggestion to hold regional events.
These regional events will be held in Limerick, Galway and Cork.
The Taking Care of Business co-ordinating group will meet in May to review these events and consider the scope for further regional events. Waterford will be the next venue for any subsequent Taking Care of Business events.
In considering the scheduling of such events it should also be noted that complementary to the whole-of-Government strategy in 2014, the Department of Social Protection through the Pathways to Work strategy have organised an Employer Engagement event in Waterford on 24 March 2014. This event which takes place at the Intreo Offices, will allow employers to source information on the full range of employment and financial supports available to assist them to grow their workforce, including: JobsIreland, JobsPlus, JobBridge, and EURES. In addition, I plan to hold an Action Plan for Jobs Business forum in Waterford in April.
It is important to emphasise also that the full range of Government support for the SME sector remains available to business in Waterford. The South East Action Plan has drawn additional focus and effort of all the relevant agencies to Waterford and the neighbouring counties after many years of neglect. It is worth noting from the recent QNHS employment figures that the South East Region saw 15,000 more people in employment at the end of 2013 and that the unemployment rate has fallen by more than 3 percentage points. These figures, while positive, will simply encourage me and the Government to continue pursuing the policy agenda set out in successive Action Plans for Jobs.
