Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 October 2018
7. Deputy Peter Burke asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she has taken in budget 2019 to encourage and promote job creation in counties Longford and Westmeath and across the midlands; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42694/18]
View answerSince becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I have made jobs and enterprise in the regions my top priority. Enterprise development has been central to our success in reducing unemployment from a high of 16% to 5.4% at the end of September - the lowest level in over a decade.
The Midlands has seen good progress, with employment in the region increasing by 14% from Q1 2015 to Q2 2018. In 2017, both Enterprise Ireland and IDA reported job increases in the Midlands of 6% and 1% respectively. Through partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) have 819 client companies in the Midlands employing 4,214 people; and last year those companies added 387 new employees in total.
I am happy to say that in Budget 2019, I secured an increase in my Department’s total exchequer allocation of 9.1% year on year, up from €871m to €950.2m.
Regional development was one of my three main priorities for Budget 2019 and I approved a range of measures to drive indigenous enterprise development and regional growth.
I allocated an extra €5m to the 31 LEOs, up 22% on 2018. LEO's have a presence in every county, including Longford, Laois, Westmeath and Offaly, to support start-ups and growth and in particular to support businesses to prepare for Brexit. This will include a new customs training programme for all businesses, exporters and importers, to be rolled out in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland.
The IDA’s regional property programme is critical to encouraging more foreign direct investment into the regions. So, I was pleased to announce an allocation of €10m to the next phase of the IDA’s Regional Property Programme to include Athlone. The IDA is involved in a number of initiatives to attract additional FDI to Westmeath and Longford, including a focused digital marketing campaign.
I was also pleased to announce an additional capital allocation of €2.75m to Enterprise Ireland to start developing regional innovation and technology clusters with Institutes of Technology right across the country, positioning them as drivers of world-class start-ups and growth enterprises.
Through Enterprise Ireland, I also doubled funding for the Online Retail Pilot Scheme to €1.25m in 2019, which will support SMEs in the retail sector to have a stronger online presence.
In addition, I also secured funding for a new phase of Enterprise Ireland’s Seed & Venture Capital Scheme out to 2024. The new scheme, which is worth €175m, will be oriented towards seed and early stage investments, where there is a very clear market failure.
I announced an additional €1.8m investment for the Design Craft Council of Ireland (DCCOI) which will assist craft enterprises all over the country to develop and generate additional export sales and online revenue opportunities, increased market diversification so as to underpin sustainable growth.
Finally, I announced a €300m Future Growth Loan Scheme for loans of up to 10 years. The Scheme has been developed by my Department with the European Investment Bank Group, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Department of Finance together with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland.
This Scheme is crucial as it will provide businesses the opportunity to borrow for up to ten years to support capital investment. It addresses the lack of availability of loans in the marketplace for loan-terms of longer than five-to-seven years.
In April of this year, along with Minister Breen, I met with the Chairs of all the Regional Action Plan for Jobs committees and other regional stakeholders, to start a process to Refresh and Refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their effectiveness, relevance and impact out to 2020, particularly in light of Brexit. I had a further meeting with the Chairs of the Regional Committees yesterday in my offices and I am pleased with the ambition and quality of the proposals being developed. The refreshed Midlands Region Action Plan for Jobs will enhance the impact and delivery of the supports outlined in Budget 2019, and existing supports, to increase job creation and enterprise development.
