John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 50, 51 and 57 together.

The achievement of balanced regional growth is a core objective of the Government. Promoting entrepreneurship, attracting inward investment, helping indigenous companies grow and facilitating the key infrastructural needs of Irish enterprise are key policy instruments for building the competitive advantage of regions and promoting regional growth. The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 is a whole of Government national strategy aimed at creating and sustaining jobs across all regions of the State.

All of our agencies work to promote regional growth opportunities. The IDA has a specific target of delivering 50% of its projects outside Cork and Dublin. Enterprise Ireland and the county enterprise board structure have a strong regional base of companies and active policies to promote their growth. The objective of balanced regional development is supported by the EU Commission’s regional aid guidelines, which recognise that some regions can face significant structural disadvantage. The guidelines permit member states to grant higher investment aid to these areas. Under Ireland’s current regional aid map, the highest rates are afforded to the Border, midlands and west, BMW, region. Under the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, the establishment of a one-stop-shop to provide micro-enterprise support through the dissolution of the existing county enterprise board, CEB, offices and the creation of a new network of local enterprise offices, LEOs, will ensure an enhanced delivery of support to micro-enterprises across all regions.

With regard to the question on the Border region, the agencies’ network of offices includes Sligo, Letterkenny and Dundalk. Significant IDA projects in the Border region in the past 12 months include 175 jobs in Abbott in Sligo and 1,000 jobs in PayPal in Dundalk. There have been specific initiatives in the Border region, including the competitive start-up fund, enterprise development programmes, first-time exporters programme, new frontiers in Sligo and Letterkenny and supports provided by InterTradeIreland.

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