Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 11 May 2023
163. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which cognisance is taken of the necessity to ensure that the regions are beneficiaries of sufficient developments in order that the economy might be carefully balanced throughout the country, as opposed to concentration in one region. [13903/23]
View answerDelivering balanced regional growth and sustainable local job creation is a core objective of this Government and is a key component in the recently published White Paper on Enterprise.
The White Paper emphasises the role my department and agencies continue to play in achieving this objective through direct assistance to businesses as well as promotion and enhancement of the regional enterprise ecosystem to encourage businesses to invest and create jobs across all regions.
Enterprise Ireland has a continued focus on supporting enterprise in all regions to adapt to a challenging market environment, and on maximising job retention and creation. Enterprise Ireland’s strategy has set targets of creating 45,000 new jobs by 2024 and that over two-thirds of new jobs will be created outside Dublin. Enterprise Ireland client companies now employ almost 220,000 people with 68 per cent of those jobs outside of Dublin.
Regional development is also at the centre of IDA’s strategy. The IDA is committed to more balanced, compact regional development and will target half of all investments from 2021- 2024 to regional locations. The IDA has made great strides in boosting investment in regional locations. Growth in employment in 2022 brought the number of people employed in the FDI sector in Ireland to over 300,000 with regional employment now at over 163,000.
The Local Enterprise Offices are at the very heart of business development and entrepreneurship in towns and communities across the country and will continue to enhance their advisory services for locally trading firms.
My Department’s nine Regional Enterprise Plans focus on undertaking collaborative initiatives that can help strengthen the regional enterprise ecosystem thereby realising enterprise growth and job creation.
My Department has secured up to €145m in funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to support projects aligned to the Regional Enterprise Plans. My officials are working with Enterprise Ireland on finalising the first call under the ERDF which I hope to announce in the coming months. This funding will support innovative enterprise focused projects across all regions.
The Deputy may wish to note that of the €126 million in funding already allocated under my Department’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund and Border Enterprise Development Fund, €114 million has been allocated to projects outside of the Dublin region.
The Department of Rural and Community Development’s ‘Rural Regeneration Development Fund’ (RRDF) provides funding for the development and construction of projects in towns and villages across all regions of the country. Projects supported by the RRDF assist in the regeneration of rural towns and villages by addressing vacancy and dereliction and positioning them for further growth through regeneration and town centre renewal.
The Town Centre First Policy which was launched in February 2022 provides a coordinated, whole-of-government policy framework to proactively address the decline in the health of towns across Ireland and support measures to regenerate and revitalise them. In December 2021, the Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys TD, announced €2.6 million in funding to deliver the first ever Town Centre First Plans. Twenty-six towns were selected. Towns for this first phase were selected based on submissions received from the Local Authorities and further phases will be announced in due course. The first round of plans are due for completion shortly.
