Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 February 2017
4. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of Enterprise Ireland and Industrial Development Agency jobs created in west Cork in 2015 and 2016 (details supplied). [6645/17]
Amharc ar fhreagraWill the Minister please disclose the number of jobs created by Enterprise Ireland and Industrial Development Agency, IDA, in west Cork in 2015 and 2016?
Each regional action plan for jobs targets one of eight regions around the country, seeking to build on the differing capabilities and strengths of each region. West Cork comes under the south west action plan for jobs, which covers counties Cork and Kerry and was launched in July 2015. As of quarter three, the south-west region unemployment rate had dropped to 6.4%, from a high of 14.3% in 2012. The downturn in employment hit the south west heavily in 2008 but there is potential to grow sustainable jobs based on the sectoral strengths, skills profile and innovative capacity within this region.
As part of the Action Plan for Jobs 2017, my Department, through Enterprise Ireland, has committed to support all eight regional action plans for jobs and to provide investment of up to €60 million over the period to 2020 to support collaborative approaches to boost enterprise and job creation across the regions. The regional competitive funding initiative will be launched shortly. It will be aimed at accelerating economic recovery in every part of the country by delivering on the potential of local and regional strengths. The number of jobs created by Enterprise Ireland in County Cork in 2015 was 1,443 and in 2016 it was 1,505. The number of jobs created by the Industrial Development Agency, IDA, in 2016 was 1,675.
I thank the Minister. Good jobs are what any area would want and in west Cork, unfortunately, we have been forgotten for far too long. The Minister provided very rosy employment figures but the bottom line is that is not felt on the ground by many people. They feel there are not enough good quality jobs in west Cork. For the creation of any good employment, we need good road structure, mobile phone coverage and broadband. These are three simple and basic foundation elements for any job creation but, unfortunately, it is not there in west Cork. We have fallen far behind on all these fronts because of Government inaction. Historically, while we have had some great companies like ROWA in Bantry, Ceramicx in Ballydehob and Irish Yogurts in Clonakilty, there is still a lack of good quality jobs. I plead with the Minister to work towards creating these jobs. How does she intend to turn this around for the people of west Cork?
Tourism is very important in the Deputy's area. There is a new 10,000 sq. ft. Ludgate digital hub building that opened this year in Skibbereen, providing up to 75 desks, training and meeting room space. The building has 1,000 MB connectivity. I am definitely in the business of making sure that good quality jobs come to Ireland and are developed and scaled in Ireland by Enterprise Ireland companies and firms that work with our local enterprise offices. We are also announcing a consortium involving University College Cork, Cork Institute of Technology, the National University of Ireland, Galway, and Trinity College Dublin to win the health innovation hub. That will provide good quality jobs. I have attended meetings of all the regional action plan for jobs implementation groups. They all sing from one hymn sheet and we want good quality jobs.
I beg to differ with the Minister about the good quality jobs as very few good quality jobs are coming to west Cork. We find it an uphill struggle in making this happen. Unfortunately, we are turning to work schemes to see if we can make up many of the job losses and the fact that many low-income farmers and fishermen find it very difficult to thrive. Even with that, only 39 came to County Cork and 79 went to Mayo, which is very unfair. It shows how west Cork is being forgotten, even with the lowly case of a community employment or rural and social job. Unfortunately, west Cork has been forgotten. Will the Minister consider a jobs task force for west Cork in order to concentrate on bringing good employment to the area?
My implementation group for the south-west region deals with the regional action plan for jobs and it is why we have seen growth in jobs all across the country. I pay tribute to the work it does. On it working together there are industry partners, local employment offices, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and all the different educational bodies. We operate a regional plan and not a county plan. That is why the unemployment rate, on average, is at approximately 7.1%, with 190,000 people back at work since 2012.
This has to be targeted at west Cork and not Cork city.
I am not referring to Cork city.
It must cover the region of west Cork.
The regional action plan for jobs covers counties Cork and Kerry.
