On 3 June 2011, I announced a pilot jobs initiative for Killybegs, following the launch of an economic report for the European Commission, which assessed the status, development and potential diversification of Killybegs as a fisheries dependent community. The aim of this initiative was to create 250 cross sectoral jobs in the Killybegs area by 2014. Seafood processing was just one of the areas identified as having the potential to create additional employment. To drive forward the initiative, I established a High Level Group on Job Creation in the Killybegs Region and requested that the Group identify the potential actions required to deliver job creation in the following five key areas, that is; promoting seafood value added activity; enhancing ancillary services; developing offshore supports; promoting tourism and marine leisure; and promoting the green economy and renewable energy.
The High Level Group comprised representatives of the Killybegs Fishermen's Organisation (who chaired the Group), Bord Iascaigh Mhara, Donegal County Council, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Enterprise Ireland, local industry and from my Department. BIM provided secretariat services to assist the chair.
The High Level Group finished its work in 2011 and its Report is available on my Department’s website at:
http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2011/KBHLGReport.pdf
Since 2012, a local implementation group reporting to Donegal County Council has taken on responsibility for driving forward the initiative. The Council may be able to assist the Deputy with the information he is seeking.
I am informed by Bord Iascaigh Mhara that by the end of 2014, 89 jobs had been created in seafood processing companies in the Killybegs area. I do not have information available to me on jobs created in areas outside of my area of responsibility.
It is clear that the future is very promising for the seafood industry generally and Killybegs is central to that growth story. While the Killybegs Jobs Initiative was important in terms of fostering a diversified blue economy in Killybegs, seafood will continue to be the driver of economic growth for Killybegs in the years to come.
The seafood sector continues to be a high-growth area of the economy and indeed of our food industry. Exports have grown 70% since 2009 and the sector is now worth €850 million in sales. Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Bord Bia are working with seafood companies in Killybegs and elsewhere around our coast to grow the sector to €1 billion in the next few years. This will be driven by our seafood processing sector adding value to commodity products, innovating and developing new consumer seafood products, with the assistance of BIM’s Seafood Development Centres in Clonakilty and Killybegs, and winning new markets for Ireland’s top quality seafood.
Earlier this year, I announced a new €241 million Seafood Development Operational Programme under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund. This new Programme will double the level of supports for the sustainable development of the seafood over the coming years. I expect that the new Programme will be adopted by the European Commission in November. My Department is working with Bord Iascaigh Mhara to have a range of supports ready to launch from the start of 2016 to support and promote the sustainable growth of the processing, aquaculture and fishing sectors through that Programme.
