Jackie Cahill
Question:54. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the mid-west regional enterprise plan. [43807/21]
View answerWednesday, 15 September 2021
Questions (54)
Oral answers (8 contributions)
I ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to report on the mid-west regional enterprise plan.
I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this question. If it is okay, I might answer it because the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and I chair the regional enterprise strategies, on behalf of the Tánaiste.
Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of the Government. Our Department is overseeing the development of nine new regional enterprise plans which will bring us out to 2024. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, and I chair eight of them and the Tánaiste chairs the Dublin ones. These are "bottom-up" plans, developed by regional stakeholders, which will identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities and enable job creation across the regions, including in the mid-west region, through collaborative regional actions. As the Deputy will be aware, in his case that covers Tipperary, Limerick and Clare.
The new mid-west regional enterprise plan to 2024 will build on the core activities of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs with the wider range of State bodies involved in supporting enterprise development in the region. A big part of that is the relationship with our education system. In the Deputy's case, LIT is very much involved, as is the ETB in Tipperary. As I say at all those regional meetings, a big driver of making this happen and the success of the regional plans are the local authorities. That ringtone is a message from Joe McGrath to make sure I do not forget to mention local authorities. I refer to the involvement of the local authorities in making these regional plans happen.
In driving the delivery of the new plan in the mid-west we have engaged directly with the mid-west regional steering committee, made up of regional stakeholders and chaired by Professor Eamonn Murphy. At this stage I think I have met Professor Murphy on four or five occasions. As the Deputy will be aware, he is the managing director of the Irish Centre for Business Excellence. As a region Tipperary is very lucky to have him as a chair. He is really driven to make sure we have economic success across Tipperary, Clare and Limerick. The last time I met the steering committee was physically, last week, on 7 September. I am conscious that Deputy Cahill sent his apologies that he could not make the meetings we had in Limerick, and I thank him for that, but he was well represented by his colleague on the council, who put forward a very strong case for investment in Tipperary.
The regional stakeholders in the mid-west region are working to finalise focused strategic objectives for their region and actions to deliver on these objectives and intend to sign off on the new plan in the weeks ahead.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. The objectives of this regional enterprise plan are to be lauded. I want to focus on Tipperary town, which is a black spot in my county for employment. I have to be critical of the IDA. Zoned land is extremely scarce in that town and we have a number of employers in the town who are seriously under pressure for space to expand. The IDA has sold off some of its portfolio but still had a small portion of land in the town. When the county council endeavoured to negotiate on behalf of the industries in the town that needed this land as they were extremely short of space in their present premises, the IDA's response was to put the land up for sale and public auction. The land has no services or infrastructure to it, and the end result is that we have employers in the town thinking of relocating.
I took time when I was in Tipperary last week to drive up and down nearly every street and every part of Tipperary town and I could see exactly what the Deputy is saying. It is an area that, in my view, has been suffering decline for a long number of years, not just in the past three or four years but possibly for even 20 or 30 years, and not because of Covid or Brexit or anything else. It is fair to say the bypass will make a big difference and is important. The message I got from all the groups I met in Tipperary was to make sure that that bypass happens and that the road upgrade happens to go along with that. That is a priority and I agree it would open up the town. Issues around IDA and Enterprise Ireland were mentioned to me as well and I was shown the options for the land. I am happy to engage with the Deputy directly on that. With the regional plan, I stressed to all the groups there that they need to focus in on that and that any key actions we want on a regional basis need to come through the regional action plan because that helps us as three Ministers involved in the drawdown of the funding from the different parts of Departments.
As the Deputy will be aware, his local authority is very much involved in driving the new actions in Tipperary under the Tipperary task force that was set up by the previous Government - just as it finished up - under my old Department. That is also bringing forward a very useful strategy for the town. I got a briefing on that when I was there last week. There is great potential in it. It will mean all the businesses working together. The Deputy is right that a big part of that has to be making available space where existing businesses are-----
The Minister of State should leave Deputy Cahill time to come back in.
Sorry, Chair. I will make one last point. The main request I got from the briefing was for land for light industrial use. I think that is what the Deputy is looking for, and that is something on which I am committed to working with them.
I very much appreciate the Minister of State's reply, but we have one business in that town that is expanding rapidly. I was in that man's yard a couple of weeks ago, and the cramped conditions the staff are working in are unbelievable. A number of years ago there was another budding employer in Tipperary town and again he met obstacles and found it impossible to get the infrastructure he needed and he relocated to a different town. We cannot allow this to happen in Tipperary town this time. This employer has 50 employed at the moment with plans to expand further. The asking price and the conditions the IDA has put on the piece of land that would be suitable for him make it economically unviable for him to relocate there. As I said, the county council has been heavily involved along with the enterprise board and we have failed to get a satisfactory solution. This is critical for the commercial life of the town. To lose an employer of that size in Tipperary town would be disastrous. I appreciate that the Minister of State has full knowledge of this and I am very heartened by his answer this evening.
Again, I would be very happy to engage with Deputy Cahill on that because we are very clear and I know from talking to the local authorities that Joe McGrath, Anthony Fitzgerald and the other team involved in the hub there are very anxious that solutions are found in conjunction with all our Departments and agencies. Under the direction of the regional plans we are asking the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and local authorities to work together. There is a very strong relationship there, so I am of the view that a solution can be found. I am happy to engage with the Deputy off the floor of the House on that and to try to progress a solution because it really is important to me and it could not be any clearer that Tipperary town is a black spot when it comes to employment. That is something we want to address and fix. If there are people there who want to create jobs and expand, they are the easiest wins for us all.