Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
286. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation her plans for the maximisation of job creation opportunities throughout the regions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50847/18]
View answerSince becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I have made jobs and enterprise in the regions my top priority.
We want to have a situation where all regions are enabled to realise their potential as contributors to economic recovery and growth, and thereby reduce regional disparities.
Strategic investments within the overarching national context (Project Ireland 2040), and actions focused on maximising the competitive advantages and potential of each of the regions are key to ensuring each region can contribute to, and participate in Ireland's future national growth, and sustain a higher standard of living.
The recently published Q3 2018 CSO Labour Force Survey employment figures are overall very positive. Figures show that employment continues to grow strongly with 66,700 jobs created in the year from Q3 2017 to Q3 2018. This brings total employment to 2,273,000.
The number of people in employment has increased in six of the eight regions in the year from Q3 2017 to Q3 2018. The exception to this is the Mid-West (which has remained static) and the Border region.
Since the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) there has been an increase of 258,800 people in employment across the State since Q1 2015 to Q3 2018, with 163,500 people in the regions outside of Co. Dublin entering employment in that period.
Over 63% - or 3 out of every 5 jobs created - were for regions outside of Co. Dublin (Q1 2015 - Q3 2018).
In the year from Q3 2017 - Q3 2018, just over half (51%) of the jobs created were outside of Co. Dublin.
My Department's Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) initiative is a central pillar of the Government's ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, 135,000 of which are outside of Dublin.
A key objective of the initiative is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of having the unemployment rate of each region to within one percentage point of the State average.
Government policies are working but of course we always want to do more.
That is why in April this year I asked all the RAPJ Committees to start a process to Refresh and Refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. The Refresh and Refocus will ensure that the Plans are more focused and effective, and are robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit.
I met the Chairpersons of the RAPJ Committees in October to hear directly about the progress made on the Refresh of the Plans to date. All Regions have established a Project Delivery Team, which has met to examine initial proposals for each Region's Strategic Objectives and all Regions now have a working draft of their refreshed Plans.The refreshed Regional Plans aim to be completed by the end of the year.
My Department is also working closely with the agencies (IDA, EI and the LEOs) and other relevant stakeholders, and their ongoing regional activities will also be included in the Plans.
On Monday the 3rd December, under the second call of my Department's Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) managed by Enterprise Ireland, I announced an allocation of just over €29 million in funding that will support regions throughout the country to deliver on their economic and enterprise development potential. A total of 21 projects from all over the country received funding under this second call. This is in addition to the 21 projects that were approved €30.5 million in funding under Call 1 of the REDF announced in December 2017.
The REDF is aimed at accelerating economic recovery in all regions of the country by delivering on the potential of local and regional enterprise strengths. The Fund has supported significant collaborative and innovative regional initiatives to build on specific industry sectoral strengths and improve enterprise capability, thereby driving job creation. This will be achieved by co-financing the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. The Fund will help to ensure the benefits of our growing economy are felt in all regions.
