Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 May 2019
84. Deputy Joe Carey asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the progress that has been made by her Department and agencies under her remit in driving job creation in the mid-west region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20534/19]
View answerA total of 14,700 more people are in employment in the Mid-West at the end of 2018 than in 2015 when the Regional Action Plan for Jobs initiative was first launched. Unemployment in the region has reduced from 12 percent to 5.6 percent in the same period.
While we have had great success through the Action Plan for Jobs in reducing unemployment, in the context of Brexit and other global challenges it is important that we move our focus beyond numbers of jobs created to quality and sustainable jobs. Future Jobs Ireland is our plan to meet these challenges. I launched Future Jobs Ireland with the Taoiseach on 10 March 2019 and it includes ambitious targets and actions to drive this transformation of our economy.
At the same time, Government remains committed to achieving an overall jobs uplift of between 10 and 15 per cent in each region by 2020 and to bring and/or maintain unemployment levels in each region to within at least one percentage point of the State average. It is important that unemployment in the Mid-West remains within the 2020 target and enterprise potential is nurtured so that we can build on the significant employment growth achieved in recent years with the creation of sustainable, quality jobs, taking account of new and emerging opportunities and challenges, including Brexit.
To that end, during February and March this year, I launched nine new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2020, including for the Mid-West, which build on the very strong progress made on employment creation under the Regional Action Plan for Jobs 2015-2017. I am pleased to say that implementation has commenced in all regions.
Shaped from the ‘bottom-up’ by regional stakeholders, and overseen by my Department, the new Plans complement national level policies and programmes from the ‘top-down’ with strong alignment to Ireland’s national enterprise policy, Enterprise 2025 Renewed and the Future Jobs Ireland initiative.
The principle behind the Regional Enterprise Plans is collaboration between regional stakeholders on initiatives that can help to realise the region’s enterprise development potential. The stakeholders include: Local Authorities, the LEOs, the enterprise agencies, the Regional Skills Forum, tourism boards, private sector ‘enterprise champions’, higher and further education institutions, business representative bodies, and others.
I launched the new Regional Enterprise Plan for the Mid-West region, which covers Clare, Limerick and Tipperary, on the 20th February at the Irish Bioeconomy Foundation site at Lisheen, Co. Tipperary. The Steering Committee for the Plan, chaired by Barry O'Sullivan (Johnson & Johnson) will drive its implementation.
The Plan for the Mid-West is focused around five ‘Strategic Objectives’ focused on: the digital and innovation economy; progressing towards a low carbon economy; developing workforce skills; developing the capacity for economic growth; and building a coordinated regional brand.
The Strategic Objectives and actions in the Mid-West Plan are set out alongside, and add value to, the Enterprise Agencies’ (Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland) and the LEOs’ core activities in the region.
The Government has put several funding streams in place to support regional development, and the Mid-West has seen a number of successes through these. They include my Department’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund; and the Rural and Urban Regeneration and Development Funds under Project Ireland 2040.
Under the €60 million competitive Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF), the Mid-West region has secured total funding of over €9.5 million to date under the two completed Calls.
Guided by this new Regional Enterprise Plan, the Mid-West region is well positioned to realise its enterprise potential.
