Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The live register figures for January 2009 show increases in all regions. The largest percentage increase was in the mid-east and the smallest percentage increase was in the south east.

However, the live register is not designed to measure unemployment which is measured by the quarterly national household survey. The most recent survey was published by the Central Statistics Office on 21 November 2008 and whereas the unemployment rate for the country as a whole was 7%, the figure for the south west was 6.3%. Notwithstanding this, I am very concerned that the figure for the south west, like other regions, has been increasing. The recent job loss announcement at Dell in Limerick clearly has implications for workers living in the south west and County Kerry in particular.

The industrial development agencies and the county and city enterprise boards are responsible for job creation in the region. They are making every effort to create and sustain jobs. For workers who lose their jobs, the role of the employment and training agency, FÁS, is particularly important. All FÁS interventions and supports are aimed at assisting people to enhance their skills and enable them to secure employment in these difficult times.

As regards foreign direct investment, the locations that IDA Ireland focuses on in the region are the gateway city of Cork and the hub location of Mallow as well as the linked hubs of Tralee and Killarney. The agency's strategy for the region is to work with local authorities and relevant infrastructure and service providers to influence the delivery of appropriate infrastructure in the region. The strategy also progresses the development of a knowledge economy so that the region can compete nationally and internationally for foreign direct investment. This allows the agency to work with its existing client base and help them further develop their presence in the region while providing modern property solutions with supporting infrastructure.

Over the past ten years, direct employment in IDA Ireland-supported companies in Cork city and county has grown from 15,671 in 1999 to 21,068 in 2008. The sectors contributing to this growth are information and communication technologies, biopharmaceuticals and medical technologies, globally traded business and international financial services.

At the end of 2008 there were 15 IDA Ireland-supported companies in Kerry employing almost 1,800 people. In addition to attracting new foreign direct investment, IDA Ireland continues to work closely with its existing clients in Kerry to encourage them to expand their operations in the county. An example of this work was the announcement in September 2008 by Aetna in Castleisland that it was expanding its operation with the addition of 70 new jobs.

Enterprise Ireland also continues to foster job creation in the region. The agency is specifically targeting business start-ups through a number of supports and programmes. The agency also organises seminars and events to meet the needs of industry. For example, Enterprise Ireland is addressing the challenges facing the sub-supply base in the region with a dedicated sub-supplier event in April. This will facilitate supply companies exploring new opportunities, new business leads and new markets with assistance from the agency's overseas market network.

During 2008, the county and city enterprise boards in the region paid out more than €2 million in grant assistance to 167 projects. A total of 3,754 people participated in county enterprise board training and development programmes. The 2008 end-of-year figures for the south west show there are 5,600 jobs existing in county enterprise board-supported enterprises. These interventions have contributed to the development of sustainable local growth-orientated enterprises which continue to deliver high quality job creation. In 2009, the boards will continue to support enterprise development and job creation. The local base of each county enterprise board means the projects and related job opportunities they support are tailored specifically to the specific needs of the local economic environment.

These are very difficult and uncertain times for many workers both in the south west and elsewhere. However, I emphasise that the development agencies are making every effort to establish and sustain jobs and they will continue to do so.

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