Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2016
117. Deputy Tony McLoughlin asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of his efforts over the past three months to attract new jobs to counties Sligo and Leitrim and to Ballyshannon in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4836/16]
View answerSupporting enterprise development in all regions of the country in order to support job creation is a key objective of the Government, with initiatives such as the regional Action Plans for Jobs seeking to capitalise on the strengths and assets of each region to maximise enterprise growth and job creation. The North East/North West Action Plan for Jobs, launched on 30 November last, aims to deliver 28,000 extra jobs in the counties of Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Louth, Monaghan, and Cavan by 2020. Key targets in service of this overall goal are to achieve an increase of at least 25% in the number of start-ups in the region; a 25% improvement in the survival rate of new businesses; an increase in the number of IDA investments in the region by 30-40% up to 2019; and an increase of 300 to 500 in the numbers of Udaras na Gaeltachta supported jobs in the North West. Sectors targeted as part of the plan include traditionally strong sectors for the region like agrifood, manufacturing/engineering and tourism, as well as areas targeted for future growth like digital payments, cleantech and creative services.
Since the Plan was launched on 30 November last, focus has moved to putting in place a comprehensive implementation structure. A Regional Implementation Committee has been established, composed of key stakeholders in the region who will work in concert with Enterprise Champions - nominated senior private sector representatives - to oversee and monitor progress. This team will meet twice each year to review progress on the delivery of the Plan’s actions. The first Progress Report on the implementation of the North East/North West Action Plan for Jobs will be completed in Q3 2016.
Key actions in the plan to be delivered over the period 2015-2017 include the delivery by IDA of a new Advanced Building Solution in Sligo; the establishment of a North West Regional Skills Forum to ensure the flow of critical skills to enterprises in the region; collaboration between the Enterprise Agencies, ETBs and Institutes of Technology to develop a marketing proposition around the Insurance and Technical Services cluster in the North West; and a Regional Innovation Forum for the North East/North West region to help support more companies to innovate and engage in R&D.
All regional Action Plans will be supported by investment of up to €250 million over the next five years, including €150 million for a property investment programme by IDA Ireland. A further sum of up to €100 million will be made available over the next five years through three competitive calls to be administered by Enterprise Ireland. These competitive calls are being targeted at innovative and collaborative approaches to support job creation across the regions.
Two of these regional competitive calls were launched last year. On 22nd January, a €3m Regional Accelerator Scheme was launched, which aims ultimately to create more accelerator spaces in the regions where start-ups can locate their businesses and access supports. It is targeted that a further €3m will be leveraged with additional private sector investment to support this entrepreneurship initiative. This Regional Accelerator Scheme was the first competitive initiative to be launched under the €40m competitive regional jobs fund announced by the Government on Friday 15th January. Other elements of this fund to be rolled out over the coming months include:
- Opportunities to drive greater company/sector collaboration/clustering in the regions
- Driving procurement opportunities for start-ups and established small businesses
- Strengthening Third-level as a driver of regional enterprise
- Strengthening the start-up ecosystem locally.
