The South East Action Plan contains specific actions to address the unemployment problems affecting the South East region. Following the launch of the Plan on 2 December 2011, I have been kept informed on the progress made by the stakeholders and the state enterprise development agencies on the implementation of the plan in the region.
I had met with representatives of all the enterprise agencies, local authorities, CEBs, education institutions and other local representative groups on 24 November last year. That meeting was the first time that a group of that nature had met collectively with the focus solely on what can be done to improve the fortunes of the South East region. What has become clear from consultation with these stakeholders and agencies is the need for greater co-ordination of effort from all those with an interest in improving the enterprise potential of the region.
I also held a Business Forum in Waterford as part of the regional launch of the Action Plan for Jobs in March this year where I had wide ranging discussions involving the enterprise agencies at local level and regional business representatives. I will again meet with key representatives from the agencies and stakeholders within the coming weeks and it is my intention to maintain this engagement into the future as a means of monitoring the implementation of the proposals in this report. I look forward greater co-operation and collaboration between all the various stakeholders across the South East region to pursue the Action Plan recommendations.