Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 February 2018
47. Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the progress that has been made in County Louth under the regional action plan for jobs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5976/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe North-East/North-West Regional Action Plan for Jobs is a key policy response for supporting employment growth in the Border region, including Co. Louth.
The Plan is stimulating job creation across the region, by facilitating collaborative initiatives between the public and private sector, and through the provision of new competitive funds, awarded through Enterprise Ireland to support regional enterprise projects.
The core objective of the NE/NW Action Plan is to have a further 28,000 at work in the region by 2020. A key objective of all of the Regional Plans is that unemployment in the regions lies no more than one percentage point above the State average.
Sectors targeted as part of the Border plan include traditionally strong sectors for the region like agrifood, manufacturing/engineering and tourism.
The Local Authorities, enterprise agencies, and other key public and private sector stakeholders in Louth have been strongly involved in, and are key drivers of, the NE/NW Action Plan.
Implementation of the Plan’s 194 actions continues and is overseen and monitored by two Implementation Committees covering the North-West and the North-East regions which are composed of key regional stakeholders from both the private and public sector, and chaired by a regional enterprise champion. Progress reports are showing an implementation rate of more than 90% across all of the actions.
In terms of impact, 12,000 more people are in employment in the Border region from Q1 2015 (baseline year) to Q2 2017, representing good progress towards the target of 28,000 jobs by 2020 as set out in the Regional Action Plan.
The latest regional CSO figures show a 6.5% unemployment rate for the Border region, which is lower than the State unemployment rate of 6.9% (as at Q3 2017).
There has also been a remarkable improvement on the Live Register figures for County Louth. In January 2012, 17,745 people were in the Register compared to 9,016 in January 2018 – a drop of 49% over the last six years.
The enterprise agencies continue their work to contribute towards the ambitious targets set out in the Regional Action Plan. Enterprise Ireland recently announced a 5% employment growth in its client companies for County Louth, which now employ over 6,100 people. On the FDI front, the number of IDA-backed jobs grew by 4% as a whole last year, with almost 12,500 people employed in IDA companies across the Border region.
Through partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authority in Louth, the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) supported 231 small and micro-businesses employing over 780 people in the County during 2016. LEO Louth continues to play a vital role in providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and other supports to those wishing to start or grow their own businesses in Co. Louth. Results for 2017 are expected to be published shortly.
Of course, the Regional Action Plans on their own are not sufficient. They are being complemented by other programmes that the Government is working on at national level, including the national Action Plan for Jobs, the Action Plan for Rural Development, Regional Skills for a, and the forthcoming National Planning Framework.
Finally, I look forward to launching a second call for projects under the Enterprise Ireland Regional Enterprise Development Fund in March which will make available the remainder of the €60 million in funding to support enterprise capability in the regions following the initial allocation of up to €30.5 million across 21 projects nationwide in December 2017.
