Sorca Clarke
Question:115. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on whether his Department can be central to helping reimagine and redevelop town and city centres. [60859/21]
View answerThursday, 9 December 2021
Questions (115)
Written answers
Under the Programme for Government – Our Shared Future, Government has committed to a range of actions to continue balanced regional development across the country. Enabling all parts of the country, from rural to urban, to grow and prosper is a central goal of our economic policy.
My colleagues, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and the Minister for Rural and Community Development, are leading on the Government's Town Centre First policy, which is taking a strategic approach to town centre regeneration focused through an Interdepartmental Group (IDG) chaired jointly by those two Departments.
The work of the IDG is to develop a Framework that delivers actions at a national and local level to support the development and revitalisation of our Town Centres. For this purpose, working under the IDG, a dedicated Advisory Group was formed to engage with a wider range of stakeholders, including other Government Departments. Their Report is being finalized currently, and my Department will continue to work with these Departments in the development of the policy.
Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of mine and this Government, and overseen by my Department, nine new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 are being developed by regional stakeholders which will identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities, and enable job creation across the regions. These Plans are complementary to and build on the core activities of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs and the wider range of State Bodies involved in regional enterprise development. Each Plan is overseen by a Regional Steering Committee chaired by a senior level businessperson.
New Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 are expected to be published in early 2022.
The Government, through Enterprise Ireland, has provided funding to assist enterprise development and regional jobs growth across all regions. For example, my Department’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund, Border Enterprise Development Fund, and recent Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme has approved over €126 million across 79 enterprise strengthening projects in every region over a series of competitive calls since 2017. These Funds enable significant collaborative and innovative regional projects to provide a timely impetus to job creation in regional locations.
Additionally, Action 15 of the Nighttime Economy Taskforce Report sets out: "Work with the Retail Forum to examine the types of interventions required for late retail opening. Establish a Retail Forum working group to discuss this along with the Town Centre First initiative.". The Retail Forum is chaired by Minister of State for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English, T.D.