Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 December 2018
52. Deputy Billy Kelleher asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the regional spread of additional jobs added in the 12 months to quarter 3 of 2018 indicated by the latest labour force survey. [50767/18]
View answerWhat are the Minister's views on the regional spread of additional jobs added in the 12 months to quarter 3 of 2018 indicated by the most recent labour force survey?
Many of my colleagues tabled the same question with regard to their own counties and constituencies and they were all referred to the Department of the Taoiseach even though their questions were worded the same as mine. The only difference is I asked the question on a national basis and they asked it on a regional or local basis. Seven of them were referred to the Department of the Taoiseach. Whether it is censorship by stealth or centralisation of Government by stealth I am not sure, but it happened.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will be answering a number of questions from Deputies across the country on this specific issue. I do not know why they were referred elsewhere. It is out of my hands. I do not know. I cannot answer that question.
If the questions are related to the CSO, they are referred to the Department of the Taoiseach.
It is possible. I do not know. I note the release of the results of the labour force survey for quarter 3 of 2018 by the CSO on Tuesday, 20 November. Overall, the release is very positive. Figures show employment continues to grow strongly with 66,700 jobs created in the year from quarter 3 of 2017 to quarter 3 of 2018, which 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 quarter 3 of 2017 to quarter 3 of 2018. The exception to this is the mid-west, which has remained static, and the Border region.
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, embodied by 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.
Since the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs there has been an increase of 258,800 people in employment across the State. The figure is for the period from quarter 1 of 2015 to quarter 3 of 2018. A total of 163,500 people in the regions outside Dublin entered employment in that period. That represents a figure of over 63%, or three in five jobs created, for regions outside County Dublin during the period from quarter 1 of 2015 to quarter 3 of 2018. The Regional Action Plan for Jobs initiative is a central pillar of the Government's ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, of which some 135,000 will be outside Dublin.
Additional information not given on the floor of the House
A key objective of the initiative is to have a further 10% to 15% at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of reducing the unemployment rate in each region to within one percentage point of the national average.
Government policies are working but, of course, we always want to do more. That is why in April this year I asked all Regional Action Plan for Jobs committees to start a process to refresh and refocus all regional plans to ensure their relevance and impact up to 2020. The refresh and refocus will ensure the plans remain effective and continue to deliver jobs throughout the country. It will ensure the plans can be sufficiently robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit. In October I met the chairpersons again to hear directly about the progress made to date. All regions have established a project delivery team. Each team has met to examine initial proposals for each region's strategic objectives and all regions have a working draft of their refreshed plans.
My Department is also working closely with the agencies, including IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and local enterprise offices, and other relevant stakeholders. Their ongoing regional activities will also be included in the plans. The aim is to have the refreshed regional plans completed by the end of the year.
We all extend congratulations and concur that there is a buoyant labour market. However, it is sometimes or often outside the control of Government policy which sets down broad parameters. It is then up to business to thrive within them. The Government has an active policy on regional development, but it is failing dismally. I will explain why. In the Border region the employment gain from the third quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018 was 0%. The figures for other areas are as follows: in the west the figure is 5%; in the mid-west, 0%; in the south east, 0.6%; in the south west, 15%; in Dublin county and city, 32%; in the mid-east, 7.3%; and in the midlands, 7.9%. In two regions there was zero growth, while there is a major uptake in job creation throughout the country. Imbalance is part and parcel not of Government policy but of its consequences.
Job creation in the regions is a key priority for the Government. Our ambition has been to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, of which some 135,000 will be outside Dublin. According to Central Statistics Office figures released last week, we are over 96% of the way there in meeting both targets. We are well on course to meet and exceed them by 2020. Overall, three out of every five new jobs have been created outside Dublin since the Regional Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2015 and we continue to see an increasing number of positive job announcements throughout the country. I am altogether familiar with the Border region. In the past year the rate of unemployment along the Border has dropped from 6.5% to 5.1%. It is down from a high of 16.1% in 2012 and lower than the State average. The number of unemployed persons in the Border region in quarter 3 of 2018 dropped to 9,500 people from 12,400. This means that there are 2,900 fewer people on the live register in the region. The Government is absolutely committed to continuing to drive job creation along the Border.
I do not doubt the Minister's commitment. What I am questioning is her ability to implement the commitments she makes. It is clear and evident that she is failing dismally. There are two regions with zero employment growth, namely, the Border region and the mid-west. These regions saw zero growth when we had a boom. The Minister's colleague, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Deputy Ring, said Ireland was unbalanced. We must accept that comment, given that 45% of GDP is generated inside the M50. That is a clear indication that the country is grossly unbalanced. It will tip into the Irish Sea if it continues to develop around the capital and on the east coast. At the same time, there are large areas of the country where there has been zero growth in employment during a sustained period of growth nationally, which is an indictment. It is time we accepted that Government policy is not working. While the commitments are in place, their roll-out is having a negative impact because, unfortunately, the regional imbalance is very much to the fore in everyday life in many parts of the country.
I am absolutely conscious of the need for a regional balance. We have done a great deal of work during the past year to ensure there has been a regional balance. Only last Monday, in the second call for the regional enterprise development fund, I announced an allocation of a little over €25 million in funding that will support the regions to deliver on their economic and enterprise development potential. Of course, there are some areas that are not doing as well as others, which is why we have the Regional Action Plan for Jobs committees. They have started a process to refresh and refocus all of the regional plans and come up with good ideas. The regional enterprise development fund provides the money that will make them materialise. There have been some particularly good projects.
I do not want to hear that the Border region is not doing well. It is doing extremely well and a great region in which to invest as there is a strong work ethic in it. I was there yesterday - I live there - and there was great excitement about all of the investments that had materialised through the regional enterprise development fund. There was a really good investment in a hub in north Leitrim. It had started off originally with Drumshanbo Gunpowder Gin. It is a highly successful business, on which the hub is building.
