Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 July 2016
444. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the measures she has put in place to deliver 135,000 jobs outside of Dublin as per the programme for Government; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23116/16]
View answerA Programme for a Partnership Government sets a target of creating an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020, of which 135,000 jobs are to be created outside Dublin.
Since 2012, the unemployment rate reduced from 15.1% to 7.8% in May this year. We have 155,000 extra people at work since 2012 and employment is growing in every region. With 45,000 jobs created last year, this leaves 200,000 to be achieved by end 2020, as per the Programme for Government.
My focus is on ensuring we support new job creation in every region. The Regional Action Plans for Jobs are the mechanisms for delivery. Their objective is to increase employment by 10% to 15% in each region, resulting in the generation of a total of 246,000 jobs by 2020, even higher than the Programme for Government target. This goal is underpinned by key targets for each of the regions, including increasing the number of entrepreneurs/start-ups in each region by minimum 25%, improving the survival rate and scaling performance of companies; increasing FDI investment into each region by 30% to 40%; and increasing the flow of critical skills to the Region’s enterprises.
Achieving these ambitious targets at regional level requires a renewed focus on building on regional strengths and areas of competitive advantage to develop the environment for business to start, grow and succeed and to attract inward investment.
All 8 Plans have been published and implementation is underway. Each Plan is overseen by a Regional Implementation Committee, with members drawn from the private and public sector. We are working closely with county councils to encourage them to play a significant role in implementing the Plans. Twice yearly updates will be published for each plan. The first Progress Reports will be published in Q3 2016.
The enterprise agencies are delivering on their elements of the action plans to stimulate employment growth in every region. Net jobs created through IDA companies amounted to 11,833 in 2015, with 53% of new IDA jobs located outside Dublin. Of the 21,118 new jobs created by Enterprise Ireland client companies, almost two thirds of these (64%) were created outside Dublin.
My Department is also providing funding of up to €250 million to support the Regional Action Plan process, to be provided over the next five years to Enterprise Ireland and IDA. This comprises a €150m Regional Property Programme delivered by IDA and up to €100 million available through three Enterprise Ireland competitive calls. These competitive calls are being targeted at innovative and collaborative approaches to support jobs creation across the regions. In June this year, I announced an initial allocation of €5 million in competitive funding for 48 local and regional initiatives under two competitive regional funding calls administered by Enterprise Ireland; the LEO Competitive Fund and the Community Enterprise Initiative. Further competitive regional funding calls will be rolled out on a phased basis.
