Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 April 2018
39. Deputy Pat Deering asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the progress that has been made in the south east under the regional action plan for jobs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16184/18]
Amharc ar fhreagraSince becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I have made jobs and enterprise in the regions my top priority.
The Regional Action Plan for Jobs initiative is a central pillar of the Government’s ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, 135,000 of which are outside of Dublin. A key objective of each of the 8 regional 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 not more than one percentage point greater than the national average.
The South East Action Plan for Jobs has been a key policy response for supporting employment growth in the South East, with public and private stakeholders currently engaged in driving the range of innovative and practical actions set out in the Plan.
The South East Action Plan for Jobs has been embraced within the region and the efforts by stakeholders and businesses in the region are paying off: 16,200 more people are in employment in the South East from Q1 2015 (baseline year) to Q2 2017, representing significant progress towards the 25,000 target for 2020 as set out in the plan. However, at Q4 2017, the unemployment rate in the South East was 7.3%; which is still too high when compared with the State rate of 6.1%. We will maintain a focus on the South East to ensure that the employment environment continues to improve.
Amongst the achievements in the South East under the Action Plan since 2015 are: the establishment of the South East Creative Corridor; the South East Micro Food Clustering Project; and enterprise networking through the BizFest initiative.
In 2017, both Enterprise Ireland and IDA reported job increases in the South East of 4% and 9% respectively, the IDA figure being the largest increase of all regions in the State in this period. Through partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) support just under 1,300 micro and small enterprises in the South East with over 7,000 employees. Last year LEO client companies in the South East (incl. Co. Tipperary) added over 700 new employees in total.
To support the ambition, goals, and implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs, last May my Department launched the competitive €60m Regional Enterprise Development Fund delivered through Enterprise Ireland. A total of 21 collaborative projects were successful under the first call, securing up to €30.5 million in total. Two projects in the South East, InsurTech Network Centre at IT Carlow and the ThreeD additive manufacturing initiative at WIT, received funding under the first funding call. On Monday 16th April last I announced the opening of Call 2 under the Fund, which will allocate the remainder of the €60 million, and I hope to see more successful projects coming through from the South East region.
Building on the progress and momentum of collaboration achieved to date through the Regional Action Plans is my priority. On Monday last I also met with the Chairs of the Regional APJ implementation committees and other regional stakeholders, and together we have started a process to refresh and refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. I look forward to working further with the regional stakeholders in the South East to ensure we deliver to the employment targets for 2020 set out under the Regional Plans.
