Mary Harney
Ceist:3 Miss Harney asked the Taoiseach the job creation role, if any, played by the Western Development Commission. [6208/97]
Ceisteanna—Questions. - Western Development Commission.
Michael P. Kitt
Ceist:4 Mr. M. Kitt asked the Taoiseach if the Western Development Commission will be involved in the proposed investment for provincial towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6625/97]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 3 and 4 together.
The central function of the Western Development Commission is to promote the economic and social development of the western region. The commission will achieve this by working closely with and adding value to the State agencies and local development organisations that are already operating in the region. The commission will also work closely with businesses and representative business organisations to create the necessary conditions for private investment and to encourage local, community and indigenous enterprise and job creation.
The commission will also promote and manage a Western Investment Fund which will provide niche venture capital and equity to suitable businesses in the region which are not currently attracting funding from State or commercial agencies. The fund will be managed on a professional and commercial basis,
The Government has committed up to £25 million matching funding towards the fund over the next six years. The commission will be charged with generating the matching private investment required and in identifying suitable projects for investment. The fund will contribute directly to job creation in the region.
The Western Development Commission has welcomed the recent announcement of the Government's new regional job policy with its new emphasis on smaller regional centres. I have had a number of meetings with the IDA on this matter and will continue to encourage a greater focus on attracting investment in the Western region.
The commission is arranging to meet the job creation agencies later this month to agree an approach to achieving the objectives of its terms of reference.
The IDA and the Minister announced financial incentives for building advance factories, working in partnership with local authorities and communities. Will some of that funding go towards the aims announced by Minister for Enterprise and Employment, Deputy Richard Bruton, in Galway last week? As communities that take initiatives will be rewarded, can the Minister tell me what those communities should do?
The commission will meet the State job creation agencies to ascertain their views. They will also meet the county strategy groups. It is the intention of the commission to produce a plan for the region which will emphasise smaller regional locations. The clearest indication of the commission's intention to look after smaller regions was the announcement that Ballaghaderreen was to be the headquarters of the commission. This town needed regeneration. This is the first step towards that, and it is being done in partnership with the Office of Public Works and the local county council which has been the prime mover in this instance. I pay particular tribute to the members of Roscommon County Council, across the political divide, who agreed to site this commission at the John Dillon house in Ballaghaderreen. That is a clear indication that for the future the Western Development Commission will be concerned about smaller centres. The partnership between the Western Development Commission, local authorities, regional development agencies and the communities will help this to move forward.
Already Leader groups are providing seed funds for the development of a profile for each of the towns in the western areas. Community plans are already being drawn up. If a town is to move forward it is important that it should have all the details properly profiled. There will be guidance from the Western Development Commission to help with that.
Was John Dillon's old home in the care of the Office of Public Works? If not, what was its purchase price?
I do not have details of that, but the initiative came from Roscommon County Council who first got the funding from the Department of the Environment for the renewal of the house, and Roscommon County Council will be the owners.
I am still not clear on the role of the Western Development Commission in helping local communities. There are many questions the Minister did not answer. Will priority be given to communities where, for example, IDA land is available, or does the commission propose to encourage communities to build advance factories in partnership? Will the Minister meet some of the communities in the western region who have drawn up plans, because they are most anxious for industries to be established in the smaller towns and villages as advocated many years ago by the western bishops and by previous Fianna Fáil Governments?
I admire Deputy Kitt's tenacity. He is right to want to see smaller towns looked after. It is the intention of the Western Development Commission to co-ordinate all the development plans within a county, and that would include all the smaller centres.
The Government introduced a business expansion scheme as an incentive to build advance factories. To date only two, one of which is in Waterford, have been successful. I understand that one is under way in my own constituency at present in the town of Ennis. This opportunity is available. I attended meetings in the west where most of the communities assured me that there is quite a lot of money on deposit in the west. If there are vast reservoirs of funds in the west, local authorities and banks should encourage the use of business expansion schemes to build advance factories. The IDA policy is particularly advantageous at present in that grant aid for job creation in the west will be biased in favour of smaller towns, despite objections by people in Dublin. There is a necessity for it in the west. I also met principal officers in the IDA and encouraged them to get involved with the educational institutions with a view to establishing development parks in third level institutions on the west coast along the lines of the Plassey Development Park established in University College, Limerick. There are regional technical colleges in Letterkenny, Sligo, Castlebar, Athlone, Limerick and Galway. Since Limerick University was able to develop a technological park at Plassey, I do not see why other institutions, in partnership with the IDA, cannot develop similar technological parks to advance job creation in the west.
On the basis that communities in Blanchardstown and Clondalkin are not asked to contribute to BES funds to build advance factories and do not have to depend on funding such as the £25 million referred to by the Minister for lame duck industries and given that communities in the west cannot succeed in drawing down funding from the IDA and other development agencies, as do communities in Dublin, what will the Minister do to change the mindset of people who can play a singular role in ensuring jobs are created in the west, particularly by multinational companies? Communities there should receive similar treatment to communities in Dublin and elsewhere which have fared extremely well in the past 18 months.
I do not have to go very far to answer Deputy Hughes. I have confidence in the west. There are aggregate assets in the west that will attract industry and of which industry can avail. There is lack of confidence in investment. Deputy Hughes's family had confidence to invest money in the west and there was no limit to the amount they invested in creating employment. Rather than adopt a negative view, as Deputy Hughes has done, about the BES, community development schemes and profiles for the west, I would encourage people to get together locally to create jobs. There is a local enterprise network, a partnership between the business community and the unemployed, two prime examples being Ballyshannon and Athenry where that partnership is working to create jobs.
There is confidence in the west among the community and political leaders should show the same confidence. Money is available, whether through the IDA, Forbairt, the Leader Programme or ADM, to encourage people to invest in job creation. I want to see Westport and Kilkee prosper. I could cite many examples in the west where there is huge investment. The greatest example relates to planning permissions, to which I have referred previously, and in Leitrim, which was supposed to be the county with the lowest job creation, there was an increase of 30 per cent last year. There is confidence in the west. Deputy Hughes should realise Mayo has an opportunity to invest and that opportunity should be taken.