Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 28 April 2016
33. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the action plan for jobs (details supplied) for counties Kerry and Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8683/16]
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 build on the capabilities and strengths of each region to maximise enterprise growth and job creation.
The objective of the 8 Regional Action Plans is to strengthen and develop regional collaboration by encouraging local authorities, regional bodies, higher education institutions, the private sector and communities to come forward with innovative ideas to boost job creation in their respective regions. While all 8 regions vary in size (from one county in the case of the Dublin region to 6 in the case of the North East/North West region), the geographical remit of each region is defined at NUTS III level, the standard developed and regulated by the European Union for statistical purposes.
The South West Action Plan for Jobs, launched in July 2015, aims to deliver 40,000 extra jobs in the counties of Cork and Kerry by 2020. Key targets in service of this overall goal are to achieve an increase of 40-50% in the number of start-ups in the region; a 20% increase in employment in exporting companies which will be delivered by increasing in the number of IDA investments in the region by 30-40% to 2019; and an increase of 33% in tourist numbers and 40% increase in overseas revenue from the sector.
Sectors targeted as part of the plan include agri-food, tourism, manufacturing and ICT, including high-potential emerging sectors like multimedia/content and the green economy, energy and marine.
Key actions in the Plan to be delivered over the coming period include measures to achieve an increase of 40-50% in the number of businesses starting-up, scaling and surviving, to achieve a 20% increase in employment in exporting companies, delivered by winning 139 IDA investments, building an IDA advance facility in Tralee and a 50% increase in enterprise-research collaborations and other measures to support growth in Irish exporting companies and establishing an Employer and Education Skills Forum.
Actions are also set out to increase by 40% agri-food output to 2020 and to achieve a 33% increase in overseas tourist numbers, in addition to developing new sectors, including the content/multimedia sector, innovative energy technology and the green economy and rolling out “smart region” infrastructure.
Since the Plan was launched, focus has moved to putting in place a comprehensive implementation structure. A Regional Implementation Committee has been established, chaired by Mr Bob Savage, Managing Director of EMC. The Committee is composed of key stakeholders in the region who work in concert with Enterprise Champions - nominated senior private sector representatives - to oversee and monitor progress. The Committee held its second meeting in Tralee on 8th March last to review progress on the delivery of the Plan’s actions. The first Progress Report on the implementation of the Plan, covering the period to end-June 2016, will be completed and published in Q3 2016.
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.
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 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.
