Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I wish to share time with the Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Peter Power. I ask the Leas-Cheann Comhairle to indicate when five minutes of my speaking time remain.

I welcome this opportunity to address the House on this matter. I established the mid-west task force early last year under the chairmanship of Mr. Denis Brosnan following the announcement of the Dell manufacturing closure in Limerick and associated industrial job losses in the mid-west region. The task force completed an interim report which was presented to me by Mr. Brosnan last July. The wide range of recommendations in the report covers both local and national issues. Some fall within the remit of my Department and its agencies, while others fall within the remit of other Ministers and require a whole of government approach in responding to them.

The Government has been responding to the recommendations under these headings. Last September, I sent the task force a report on responses up to that time. Since then, I have conducted a broad consultation with other Ministers and relevant divisions and agencies in my Department. Ministers are finalising their responses in light of their budgets for 2010 and I expect to send a further report to the task force shortly.

I shall set out the main responses. Fuller detail will be provided on some of these responses in the closing remarks of the Minister of State, Deputy Billy Kelleher. With regard to the position in the mid-west region, which developed around the Dell manufacturing closure announcement, a variety of actions have been taken. As an immediate response to the developing situation, a response under the heading "Tus Nua" was initiated in December 2008. Tus Nua is a multi-agency regional group which was established specifically to address the issue of the impending business closures and downsizing across companies in the mid-west. The group includes Enterprise Ireland, the city and county enterprise boards, FÁS, Limerick Institute of Technology and the University of Limerick.

This multi-agency response to job losses has been taking place at two levels. At the level of individual employees, information and services to those facing unemployment has been provided to facilitate them to retrain, re-educate or start a new business. At the level of companies, specific initiatives have been delivered to indigenous sub-supply companies in the mid-west to explore alternative markets, products and business opportunities.

A range of supports and programmes are being provided. Management of the web portal, Tus Nua, which provides seamless access to a comprehensive range of information and enterprise supports, is available via Enterprise Ireland, the county enterprise boards, FÁS and third level institutions. In addition, the website allows individuals to register their specific request for support with a facility for immediate follow-up by the relevant agency.

Information events have been held encompassing all enterprise, employment and education institutions together with private and voluntary sector organisations, including financial institutions, the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, citizens information centres and recruitment agencies. A collaborative information brochure detailing contacts, business start-up supports and financial assistance is available via Enterprise Ireland and the county enterprise boards.

A series of one and two night seminars and workshops throughout the mid-west commenced in March 2009 to provide individuals with information on enterprise start-up and identification of new business opportunities. A further Enterprise Ireland led six-week, part-time enterprise start programme is due to commence in early February at the Enterprise Ireland funded enterprise acceleration centre at Limerick Institute of Technology to facilitate individuals to explore business start-up as a new career option. This is in addition to a series of programmes run last year.

An enterprise platform programme also commenced at Limerick Institute of Technology to assist individuals to commercialise existing business ideas. A one-to-one meeting facility for individuals interested in business start-up has been available from locally based Enterprise Ireland regional development executives. In addition, Enterprise Ireland has focused on the sub-supply base in the mid west with dedicated sub-supplier events to facilitate supply companies to explore new opportunities, new business leads and new markets with assistance from El's overseas market network.

In addition to the Túsnua initiative, a successful application was made under the EU's European globalisation adjustment fund in June 2009. The application of co-funded assistance from this fund will support the costs of a personalised package of occupational guidance, training, employment, entrepreneurship and educational measures for workers made redundant at the Dell plant in Raheen and in ancillary enterprises. This application was approved by the European Union budgetary authorities in late December 2009 and the transfer of EU funds is anticipated this week or next. Provision has been made in my Department's Vote for the national financing element required. The timeframe permitted for eligible expenditure under the fund in this case is September 2011.

Having successfully secured EGF funding together with significant Government co-financing, we are continuing with the implementation of the suite of EGF-funded measures. Good work continues to be done by State agencies and educational institutions in Limerick and the mid-west region. For example, FÁS has already provided guidance services and training courses to more than 1,500 of the affected workers.

My Department will be the managing authority for the EGF funding in the State while the Department of Education and Science, FÁS and Enterprise Ireland will be designated intermediate bodies for funds transfer, reporting and monitoring purposes. Approved funding will be made available to public beneficiaries delivering services on the ground to the eligible redundant workers. All intermediate bodies shall certify expenditure in their area of responsibility and report to my Department, and all expenditure must adhere to relevant EU and national accounting and auditing procedures.

It is imperative that the wide suite of EGF-assisted measures being provided to eligible redundant workers is co-ordinated in the most effective and efficient manner locally and regionally. To that end, the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, and I have charged FÁS with establishing a dedicated EGF co-ordination unit in Limerick to ensure all relevant supports across all service providers are co-ordinated on the ground in a timely, effective and efficient manner. The unit shall act as the primary co-ordination agency for the Department in the implementation of the EGF programme for related supports for Dell workers.

FÁS is currently contacting all relevant redundant workers to inform them of the supports being offered with EGF assistance in the areas of training, upskilling, entrepreneurial supports and further and higher education. They are also inviting the workers to a two-day information fair in Limerick in early February at which all service providers will be in attendance to detail their programmes and supports, to answer queries and to provide for course registrations. A steering group is also being established to include worker representative bodies to ensure the views of the redundant workers and other key stakeholders are made known and fed into the implementation process. The Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, will go to Limerick shortly to meet with representatives of redundant workers as part of this process and will hear their views at first hand. A review of the operation of the fund shall be undertaken by my Department in June 2010.

In regard to the promotion of industrial employment in the mid-west region, the development agencies Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Forfás and Shannon Development have enjoyed a close working relationship with the task force to date and this will continue into the future. As with all the other stakeholders in the region, the agencies are fully committed to working through the current difficulties and to getting the message out that the mid west is a great location and is very much open for business.

A strong promotion effort is under way in respect of foreign direct investment. IDA Ireland is working very hard overseas in continuing to promote strongly the mid west to potential investors. This is evidenced by the fact that the agency hosted 18 visits to the region by potential investors in 2009.

See this speech in context