Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Some, however, have performed better than others so it is a case of determining the areas that have performed exceptionally well and those that could learn from them.

The South East Action Plan for Jobs was launched in September 2015. It aimed to increase employment in the region by 10% to 15% over the period to 2020, resulting in the delivery of 25,000 jobs. The implementation of the plan is overseen and monitored by the regional implementation committee. Some 16,000 more people were employed in the south east in quarter 2 of 2017 than in quarter 1 of 2015, the baseline year. That shows significant progress on meeting the target of 25,000 by 2020. In quarter 4 of 2017, the south east had an unemployment rate of 7.3%. That is above the national average. We are certainly going to be considering the areas where an improvement is required.

I will be launching the regional development fund shortly. Some €30 million was allocated last December. There is another €30 million this year. Some areas were particularly good at submitting excellent applications, which received support, and some were not so good. Again, we want to focus on those that are not doing as well and on how we can improve them.