The goal under the 2016 Programme for a Partnership Government was to deliver an extra 200,000 jobs by 2020, of which 135,000 will be outside of Dublin. With a strong focus on job creation and retention, the annual Action Plans for Jobs provide a framework to achieve this objective.
Between June 2015 and January 2016, my Department published eight Regional Action Plans for Jobs, aimed at raising employment levels in the regions and facilitating them to achieve their economic potential. A key objective of each of the plans is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the unemployment rate of each region within one percentage point of the national average. Each plan contains a series of actions with timelines for delivery between 2015-2017, through improved collaboration between enterprise agencies and other stakeholders supporting enterprise development in the regions. The targets and achievements to date in terms of job creation are provided in the table.
The Regional Action Plans for Jobs are supported by a Regional Enterprise Fund (2017-2020) of up to €60 million, which was launched to drive enterprise development and job creation in the regions. This funding has been provided by my Department, through Enterprise Ireland. I announced the result of the first call in Mullingar on the 11/12/2017. Twenty-one successful applicants representing all regions of the country have secured up to €30.5m for their projects. Over €14m has been approved for projects in the southern region, over €11m for projects in the eastern and midlands region and over €5m has been approved for the northern and western region, subject to grant conditions.
My Department has also granted €150 million over five years to the IDA regional property programme, which invests in property solutions outside Dublin.
|
Region
|
Regional targets 2015-2020
|
Q1 2015
|
Q2 2017
|
Change in employment level
|
|
North East/North West
|
28.0
|
190.7
|
196.7
|
6.0
|
|
Midlands
|
14.0
|
114.0
|
122.4
|
8.4
|
|
West
|
25.0
|
177.0
|
187.9
|
10.9
|
|
Dublin
|
66.0
|
584.9
|
627.0
|
42.1
|
|
Mid-East
|
25.0
|
234.6
|
247.4
|
12.8
|
|
Mid-West
|
23.0
|
148.6
|
161.9
|
13.3
|
|
South-East
|
25.0
|
201.9
|
214.9
|
13.0
|
|
South-West
|
40.0
|
277.8
|
304.7
|
26.9
|
|
State
|
246.0
|
1,929.5
|
2,063.00
|
133.5
|
