I understand that officials from Enterprise Ireland continue to engage with the company. According to the company concerned, new ways of working will improve the overall competitiveness of the plant and ensure that it can continue to operate efficiently and meet the challenges posed by significant change. The site is better prepared to continue to supply their customers and sustain commercial opportunities in the marketplace. I have been informed that operations are stable and work is continuing to keep the company competitive.
Competitiveness has always been a strategic imperative for the Enterprise Ireland client base given the small and open nature of the Irish economy and their resulting need to internationalise. Enterprise Ireland’s clients must continually innovate and evolve to keep pace with macroeconomic and technological changes and successfully compete and win sales in overseas markets.
The North East/North West Regional Action Plan for Jobs is a key policy response for supporting employment growth in the region. 7,600 more people are in employment in the Border region from Q1 2015 (baseline year) to Q1 2018, and the region had a Q1 2018 unemployment rate of 4.4%, compared to the State average of 5.7%*. Each Regional APJ committee, including the two committees in the North East/North West, is now leading a process to Refresh and Refocus their Plans for the period 2018-2020. Committees are looking particularly at building their region’s own competitive advantage – developing areas that are already strong, exploring new sectoral opportunities, while also examining regional vulnerabilities and potential barriers to investment or enterprise activity. My Department is working closely with each Committee in this process.
In May 2017 Enterprise Ireland launched the Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) with funding of up to €60m, designed to support the ambition, goals, and implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs. The first call under this Fund concluded last August, and I announced the results on 11th December. Overall, there were 21 successful projects, totalling €30.5m in aggregate grant support. The second call, which closed on 28 June this year, will fund projects with the remaining balance of the €60m fund.
Enterprise Ireland together with the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) play a critical role in driving and nurturing entrepreneurship all the way from an originating idea at local level, to taking-on global markets. I am committed to work closely with Enterprise Ireland to ensure that it continues to support companies in urban and rural areas to start, innovate, increase our exports and remain competitive in international markets, now and into the future. In recent months, with the support of my Department, Enterprise Ireland has launched new measures to strengthen the rural and regional economy and to provide quicker access to innovation funding for exporting companies. This includes the Regional Enterprise Development Fund, the Market Discovery Fund and a new fast-track Agile Innovation Fund. In 2017, Enterprise Ireland paid €7.2m to companies in Monaghan to support their growth.
The numbers on the live register in the Border region are down from 27,858 people in June last year to 23,897 people in June 2018, a fall of almost 4,000. But I am very conscious that more needs to be done. I will be working, together with my Department and agencies to ensure there is an even greater focus on the border region.
*It should be noted that the CSO has recently revised its regional groupings, and as a result Louth is no longer included in statistics for the Border region – from Q1 2018 it is included as part of the Mid East region.
