Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 April 2017
368. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the amount which has been spent of the €1.1 billion provided for under the capital plan for Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and local enterprise offices; the initiatives and projects that have been funded and completed; the number of projects that are planned; the expected cost of these planned projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18752/17]
Amharc ar fhreagra“Building on Recovery: Infrastructure and Capital Investment 2016-2021” was published in September 2015 by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform on behalf of Government at that time.
The capital plan set out that an indicative amount of €3.01 billion in capital investments would be made through the Department’s Vote primarily through the enterprise agencies covering the period 2016 – 2021 inclusive.
The funding is to support the jobs, enterprise development and innovation agendas and is, in the main, in the form of multi-annual capital grant supports to agency client companies and research and development investments made through Ireland’s higher education institutions.
A large portion of the agency grant supports are multi-annual in nature and typically span a three to seven year period across many thousands of client companies and associated projects. In addition, a significant portion of the funding provided is through competitive calls on an annual or bi-annual basis.
The indicative distribution of the €3.01 billion envisaged in the capital plan in autumn 2015 was that €1.1 billion was earmarked for general enterprise supports (i.e. non R&D funding) to be made to the client companies of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the Local Enterprise Offices, InterTrade Ireland, the Interreg Programme, the Credit Guarantee Scheme and the National Standards Authority of Ireland for the period 2016 to 2021. This funding also includes €150 million to fully deliver on the IDA Regional Property programme that commenced in 2015. The IDA Regional Property programme is a series of new Advance Facilities and infrastructural upgrades to existing business parks spanning 34 regional locations.
The remaining indicative €1.9 billion in the published capital plan figures is envisaged to support Ireland’s research, development and innovation investments through Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions, Tyndall National Institute and to pay for Ireland’s membership of, and participation in, various international research organisations such as the European Space Agency.
For some context the 2015 Revised Estimates Volume capital allocation made to the Department was €489 million along with Capital Carryover of €20 million. The annual capital provisions to be made to the Department as published in the capital plan in September 2015 were as follows:
Table 1: Indicative annual JEI Capital allocations as published in the Capital Plan, September 2015
|
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
Total |
|
€495m |
€525m |
€490m |
€500m |
€500m |
€500m |
€3.01 billion |
Since publication of the capital plan the Department has subsequently secured additional capital funding for 2015-2017. DJEI’s total capital expenditure in 2015 was €548m and in 2016 it was €557m. For 2017 the capital allocation secured is €555 million.
The 2015 and 2016 capital expenditure levels were augmented by the provision of additional capital expenditure of €50 million and €45 million for 2015 and 2016 respectively which was secured through Supplementary Estimates approved by the Oireachtas in December of both years.
This resulted in a combined 2015-16 capital expenditure totalling €1.1 billion across the Department’s Vote. Of this, as can be seen in Table 2 below, some €597 million was expended through Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices with a further €344.5m has been secured for investment in 2017.
Table 2 - EI, IDA and LEOs capital 2015-17
|
- |
2015 capital expenditure |
2016 capital expenditure |
2017 capital allocations |
|
Enterprise Ireland (Subhead A7 - general enterprise supports and Subhead B4 - EI R&D) |
€160.68m |
€167.25m |
€185m |
|
IDA Ireland |
€116.00m |
€115.65m |
€137m |
|
Local Enterprise Offices |
€18.50m |
€19.50m |
€22.50m |
|
Totals |
€295.18m |
€302.40m |
€344.50m |
The Deputy should also be aware that some of the agencies, such as Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, are also, subject to sanction from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, allowed to utilise Own Resource Income to support their respective grant programmes and associated activity.
It is also the case that Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland receive Exchequer funding from sources other than my Department’s Vote such as via the National Training Fund and, as in the case of Enterprise Ireland, from the Vote of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, for the Beef Fund and the Food Competitiveness Programme.
The Deputy should also be aware that some of the projects and programmes supported through my Department’s capital expenditure are co-funded on a North-South basis, such as InterTrade Ireland, or on a North-South-UK-EU basis, such as the Interreg programme. It is also the case that, for example, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres, require 30% funding contributions from industry partners.
As at the end of 2016, the capital investments made through the Department via the enterprise agencies were directly supporting over 435,000 jobs in the economy in the client companies of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices.
Last year the enterprise agency supported client companies, which number well in excess of 10,000, delivered over 45,000 gross new jobs. Allowing for jobs churn across their client base, the net additional jobs created was close to 25,000 and equivalent to 67 net new jobs being delivered per day. In addition Ireland is now recognised as being the 7th most Innovative country in the world and ranked 10th for the quality of our scientific output. This is primarily, though not exclusively, down to the significant public investment in research and development made via the capital supports of Science Foundation Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and other R&D investment areas across the Department’s Vote.
Given the scale of the enterprise agency client base alluded to above, it is not practical to list the 10,000+ client enterprise agency grant recipients nor the several hundred live Science Foundation Ireland grant awards in this response. I will arrange for an update on the IDA’s Regional Property Programme to be provided to the Deputy in the coming days.
The Deputy may be aware that the Government is currently undertaking a Mid-Term Review of the Capital Plan. I, and my Department, are working closely with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and his Department on this process.
