Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
383. Deputy Paul Kehoe asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will appoint an industry-led taskforce to develop a report on the economic opportunities related to a location (details supplied); if his Department will provide the support and resources to deliver this report by autumn 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36166/23]
View answerRegional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of this Government.
Last year, my Department launched nine new Regional Enterprise Plans (REPs) to 2024 – including a plan for the South East. The REPs are an integral part of Ireland’s enterprise policy, aimed at driving economic growth and sustaining better standards of living throughout Ireland. These are bottom-up plans, developed by regional stakeholders and are overseen by a Steering Committee comprised of regional stakeholders and chaired by a senior level private sector business person. My Department has secured €145m under the European Regional Development Fund to support initiatives associated with the REPs.
The REPs provide an effective forum for facilitating regional stakeholder collaboration and play a central role in advancing the economic development potential unique to each respective region.
The South-East REP covers four counties, Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford. It contains a set of objectives and related actions to be delivered by end 2024 which are complementary to existing Government initiatives.
Action 2.1 of the South-East REP specifically identifies the importance of Rosslare Europort and the Port of Waterford in positioning the South-East as an offshore and onshore wind energy hub. The ambition outlined in the REP is to secure enabling infrastructural investment in Rosslare Europort and establishing a South-East Wind Energy Working Group bringing all the relevant stakeholders together in a cluster.
I fully support the ambition of this action within the South East REP and look forward to being updated on its progress during our regular engagement with the respective Regional Enterprise Plan Chairpersons and Programme Managers.
As the Deputy will be aware, the Programme for Government 2020 included a commitment to establish the Shannon Estuary Economic Taskforce in recognition that the Estuary area had been expecting economic development arising from new fossil-fuel infrastructure. The establishment of that Taskforce was designed to evaluate the Estuary’s economic development potential in accordance with that specific commitment.
Maximising the significant economic development opportunities associated with offshore wind is a top priority of mine, and my Department is currently developing a National Industrial Strategy for Offshore Wind with the objective to ensure Ireland fully captures the value of the supply chain to deliver an Offshore Wind Energy sector of scale, and the routes to market for this renewable energy. The Strategy is being developed in close collaboration with industry and I anticipate a first strategic roadmap to be published in the first half of 2024, coinciding with the Department of Environment, Climate, and Communication’s Future Framework for Offshore Wind.
