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, including for the West region.
These are ‘bottom-up’ plans, developed by regional stakeholders who are working together to identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities, and to address ecosystem gaps, to enable sustainable job creation in businesses across the regions, through collaborative regional actions.
The new West Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024 which covers Galway, Mayo and Roscommon will complement and build on the core activities of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs and the wider range of private and public bodies involved in supporting enterprise development in the region, with a focus on creating sustainable employment opportunities.
I am driving the delivery of the new Plan in the West and have engaged directly with the West Regional Steering Committee made up of regional stakeholders including representatives from IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, LEOs, Local Authorities, Regional Skills Forum, the Western Development Commission and others. The Group is chaired by Evelyn O’Toole, Founder and CEO of Complete Laboratory Solutions (CLS).
The regional stakeholders in the West region have finalised their Strategic Objectives and actions on developing Regional Entrepreneurship; on harnessing the Creative sector; on realising the potential in the Renewable Energy sector; on driving forward the Life Sciences sector; on growing the AgTech and Food sector; on expanding Tourism prospects, and on facilitating Digital and Green transformation in the West.
It is my Department's intention to publish and launch the West Regional Enterprise Plan along with all the new Plans in early 2022.
To assist the Regional Enterprise Plans, my Department, through Enterprise Ireland, has made available to date over €126 million in regional enterprise funding to aid locally led regional enterprise development projects. Of this, over €18.8 million has been approved for nine regional enterprise projects for the West under the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and more recently the Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme.
