Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
89. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will convene a meeting of the Western Region Enterprise Committee further to correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22082/20]
View answerThe nine Regional Enterprise Plans to 2020 were launched by my Department in early 2019 with the West Regional Enterprise Plan which covers Galway, Mayo and Roscommon being launched in February of that year.
The Plans are focused on supporting enterprise development in all regions. The principle behind the Regional Enterprise Plans is collaboration between regional stakeholders on ‘bottom-up’ initiatives that can help to realise the region’s enterprise development potential. Through the Plans, the aim is to ensure that quality jobs are created in all regions that are sustainable in the longer term, to secure Ireland’s economic success.
The Plans are also maintained as ‘live’ agendas which aim to be agile and responsive to both new opportunities and new challenges, for example: Brexit, Climate Action, Digital Economy, and most recently, the Covid-19 pandemic economic impacts.
The West Regional Enterprise Plan has 6 Strategic Objectives which focus on building greater capability within the life science sector; ensuring sustainable growth in the tourism sector; building on the West’s unique creative assets; enhancing the growth of Ag Tech in the West; aligning training to current and future skills needs; and enhancing the quality and availability of enterprise space in the West.
The West Regional Steering Committee met on 31 July last and considered the range of COVID-19 and wider economic challenges for the West region and indeed issues arising in relation to vulnerable jobs and sectors. They are presently developing options for additional measures that can be taken for the region. The enterprise agencies are represented on the Steering Committee and are doing their utmost to work with stakeholders to manage the impacts of potential job losses.
The West Regional Steering Committee are next scheduled to meet on 8 September next to finalise the options for additional measures that can be taken for the region to mitigate the COVID-19 and wider economic challenges in the region. The impact of job losses in the region will be discussed. The Regional Steering Committees cover a number of counties and with representatives from a range of stakeholders are not best positioned to discuss company specific issues.
My Department has agreed a Job Loss Response Protocol with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and the Department of Education and Skills. The Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection lead on this. The protocol puts in place all the efforts to assist the workers. It includes welfare entitlements, job-search assistance and upskilling needs/opportunities.
In May 2017, my Department launched the Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) with funding of up to €60m, designed to support the ambition, goals, and implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs/Regional Enterprise Plans. The REDF has been rolled out by Enterprise Ireland. An additional tranche of €40m was provided in 2019.
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 competitive Fund supports significant collaborative and innovative regional initiatives to build on specific industry sectorial strengths and improve enterprise capability, thereby driving job creation.
This is 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 helps to ensure the benefits of our growing economy are felt in all regions.
To date, the REDF has been delivered through three calls with 68 projects across all regions securing a total of almost €100 million in funding.
The West Region secured funding of over €16.7 million across nine projects.
This funding complements other funding such as funding provided under Project Ireland 2040 with funding provided under the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund, Urban Regeneration and Development Fund, Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund and the Climate Action Fund.
Finally, as regards job creation there are 32,900 more people in employment in the West from Q1 2015, when the first Regional Action Plan for Jobs commenced to Q2 2020. The West has a Q2 2020 unemployment rate of 5.5%, down from 12.6% in Q1 2015.
There have also been positive development in Agency job creation in 2019:
- The West has 115 IDA supported companies employing 27,300 people, up 5.1% from 2018;
- 15,256 people were employed in 429 Enterprise Ireland supported companies in the West, up almost 3% from 2018; and
- There were an additional 317 net jobs created in the West in LEO supported companies in 2019.
