James Lawless
Question:52. Deputy James Lawless asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the mid-east Regional Enterprise Plan. [43818/21]
View answerEnterprise Policy
Questions (52)
Written answers
Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of mine and this Government.
My Department is currently overseeing the development of nine new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024.
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-East region through collaborative regional actions.
The new Mid-East Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024 which covers Kildare, Meath and Wicklow will build on the core activities of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs and the wider range of State Bodies involved in helping enterprise development in the region.
I am driving the delivery of the new Plan in the Mid-East and have engaged directly with the Mid-East Regional Steering Committee made up of regional stakeholders and chaired by Eamonn Sinnott, Vice President, General Manager Intel Ireland, throughout 2021.
The regional stakeholders in the Mid-East region are currently working to finalise focused Strategic Objectives for their region and actions to deliver on these objectives. It is intended to sign off on the new Mid-East Plan in the coming weeks.
Once this has been done it is intended to publish all these new Plans, including for the Mid-East region, in quarter 4 this year.
My Department through Enterprise Ireland has made available €0.5 million in Feasibility Funding with grants of up to €50,000 on a 50% match fund basis through the Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme which can be leveraged to develop nascent initiatives emerging from the Regional Enterprise Plans. A closing date of October 1st 2021 applies to this funding.
Finally, there has recently been a very positive regional announcement on the employment front for the Mid-East this year, including the recent announcement with IDA of 1,600 new jobs at Intel in Leixlip.