Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 February 2018
48. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the progress that has been made under the regional action plans for jobs for the mid-east region; her plans to carry out a review of the plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [5925/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Mid East Action Plan for Jobs is a key policy response for supporting employment growth in the Mid East region, with public and private stakeholders currently engaged in driving the range of innovative and practical actions set out in the Plan.
Progress on implementation of the Regional Action Plans is constantly under review and two Progress Reports on the implementation of the Plan’s 162 actions have been published to date, with a third one currently being finalised that will cover the second half of 2017. All reports show that good progress is being made in the Mid- East region with an implementation rate of over 90% across all of the actions.
The efforts by the stakeholders and businesses in the region are paying off: there are now 19,300 more people at work across Meath, Kildare, and Wicklow since the launch of the Regional Action Plan initiative in Q1 2015. This represents very good progress towards the 25,000 additional employment target to 2020 as set out in the Plan.
The latest figures from the CSO show that the Mid East has an unemployment rate of 6.2%, the lowest in the State and below the average for the State (in Q3 2017).
The enterprise agencies in particular are working very hard towards the ambitious targets set out in the Plan for the Mid-East. In 2017, Enterprise Ireland client companies increased employment by 4% in the region, and now employ over 20,500 people in total.
IDA have also recently announced that FDI-related jobs across the region have grown by 6% in the last year, with over 101,000 people employed in IDA client companies in the Mid-East and Dublin region.
Through partnership with Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEO) in Meath, Kildare and Wicklow supported 475 small and micro-businesses employing over 2,500 people in the Mid-East region during 2016. The LEOs continue 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 the region. Results for the LEOs in 2017 will be published shortly.
To further support enterprise development across all regions, additional funding of up to €60m is being rolled out by Enterprise Ireland over the next 4 years to support the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. This regional competitive fund will support the ambition, goals and implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs. The results of Call 1 were announced in December 2017 with up to €30.5 million allocated towards 21 projects from all around the country. Co. Kildare Community Network Company CLG was one of the successful applicants under the competitive fund under Stream 2 (€250k to €2m) for their MERITS project (Mid East Regional Innovation Think Space).
Since 2015, The Regional Action Plan for Jobs initiative has been a central pillar of the Government’s ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, with 135,000 of these jobs to be located outside of Dublin. Building on the strong progress that has been recorded to date in the Mid-East region is a key priority for me, and officials from my Department are engaged with all of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs Committees with a view to continuing and refining their work to realise the employment targets focused on the period to 2020.
