Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
160. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps he is taking to support existing levels of employment in regional towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60290/21]
View answerRegional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of mine and this Government.
Almost two thirds of new jobs created by Enterprise Ireland client companies in 2020 were in regions outside of Dublin. IDA will target half of all investments equivalent to 400 investments from 2021 to 2024 to regional locations and maintain the same high level of investment as targeted in IDA’s previous strategy for each region of the country. IDA client companies directly employed almost 145,000 people outside of Dublin in 2020. Combined with indirect employment of 116,000, an estimated 260,000 jobs in the regions were supported by FDI in 2020. The Local Enterprise Offices continue to provide a first stop shop to individuals who want to start or grow their micro enterprise in every county. There were 35,236 people employed in over 7,500 LEO client companies nationally in 2020.
The individual Regional Enterprise Plans (REPs) play a central role in supporting the delivery of balanced regional enterprise development and ensuring that employment growth is spread across all regions. The 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. The new Plans 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.?
I realise the strain COVID-19 is placing on businesses and that is why we have put in place, a wide range of support measures for firms of all sizes, which includes the wage subsidy scheme, business continuity and trading online grants, COVID-19 Working Capital Scheme, the COVID-19 Credit Guarantee Scheme, the Future Growth Loan Scheme, commercial rates waivers and warehousing of tax liabilities. Details of the supports can be found on my Department’s website: Government supports for COVID-19 impacted businesses - DETE (enterprise.gov.ie).
