Since this Government came to office in June, 73 new jobs have been announced for the Border region: 30 in Letterkenny and 43 in Ballymote, County Sligo. In addition, there are a number of small indigenous company expansions in the area which will be announced before the end of the year.
IDA Ireland, for its part, has been responding to the challenge of attracting new inward investment to the region through investment in land to enhance the region's marketability. While, in line with Government policy, factory space will in future be provided by the private as opposed to the public sector, IDA Ireland will retain its role in the promotion of such space for industrial projects. In Dundalk, for example, a new advance factory has recently been completed and, in response to the agency's marketing efforts, keen interest has been expressed by a number of potential clients. Land acquisitions are also being made elsewhere throughout the region. For example IDA Ireland has arranged an advance factory of 23,000 square feet to be constructed by private investors on a site in Cavan town.
As part of its efforts to attract new investors to the regions, IDA Ireland is favouring locations outside the larger urban centres in every way possible. That includes offering higher grant levels, as appropriate; stimulating and supporting, with the involvement of private sector investors, a major programme of modern advance building construction at key locations; and working closely with local authorities to have quality sites available at key locations for new industrial investment.
Forbairt works closely with Irish companies in all regions, helping them to build up their capability and competitiveness and so increase growth and employment. The agency has been strength-ened at regional level through its network of nine regional offices, two of which are located in the Border region. Forbairt's northeast office in Dundalk and northwest office in Sligo recorded more than 1,000 first-time jobs in 1996, the latest year for which figures are available. Under its Community Enterprise Development Programme, Forbairt has assisted and funded community groups in all areas, including the Border region, to provide enterprise centres in areas where suitable work space is in short supply. In the Border region, for example, enterprise centres have been funded in locations in Louth, Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal and Leitrim. As part of its function for promoting companies in the natural resources sector, both Irish and international, Forbairt has successfully attracted overseas investment to a variety of regional locations. The major investment in the timber processing sector by Masonite in Leitrim and in the food sector by Heinz in Dundalk are two such examples. Forbairt co-operates with Northern Ireland's Local Economic Development Unit, LEDU, and its Industrial Development Board, IDB, on a number of specific cross-Border initiatives designed to accelerate growth in particular sectors. These initiatives are funded by the International Fund for Ireland. The agency is also involved, in tandem with Dundalk regional technical college and the Northern Ireland Small Business Institute, in the management of another cross-Border co-operative initiative designed to aid very small hi-tech start-ups.
Additionally, cross-Border programmes such as the North American Partnership Programme and AMBIT, which are internationally funded, create opportunities for companies along the Border and in Northern Ireland to make strategic alliances with North American companies, thereby opening up product and process improvement possibilities as well as potential markets and alliances. Several Irish companies in the Border region have signed technology transfer deals with US corporations in the last two years under the auspices of the programme. Another programme specifically geared towards the Border region is the INTERREG initiative, and £140 million has been made available under this programme for the six year period from 1994 to 1999. The aim is to develop human resources, infrastructure, agriculture, fisheries and forestry in the Border counties over the life of the programme.
