Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Responsibility for key elements of the Government's regional development strategy is shared across a number of Departments and State agencies. For instance, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation oversees the eight regional action plans for jobs, which play a key role in ensuring job growth and enterprise generation across the country. The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government is responsible for spatial planning and housing and is currently preparing a new national planning framework which will form the basis for future development and investment decisions in the regions. The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport has policy responsibility for transport infrastructure, ports and airport policy. The financial allocations for these and other areas of investment are set out in the capital investment plan to 2021, which was published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

This Government has been very proactive in terms of regional development and it is clear that policies such as the regional action plans for jobs and the work of agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Udarás na Gaeltachta are having a significant positive effect on the development of the regions. This is borne out by the latest employment figures for the regions. In the past year, employment has grown in all regions of the country, not just Dublin, and employment nationally has been growing continuously for 16 quarters. In quarter three of 2016, data from the Central Statistics Office shows that 72% of all jobs created in the past year were created outside Dublin. Unemployment has fallen in all regions. The Government has set a target of creating an extra 200,000 jobs by 2020, with 135,000 of these outside Dublin. The first progress reports for the regional action plans for jobs will be published shortly and they will show the enormously beneficial work being undertaken across the regions to ensure that a supportive environment is in place for the creation of jobs and the cultivation of enterprise.

As part of this process, I understand that the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Enterprise Ireland are developing proposals for a regional funding initiative which is aimed at supporting projects and activities that assist, sustain and create jobs in the regions.

In terms of capital investment, the national broadband plan constitutes one of the single biggest investments in rural Ireland for generations, perhaps since rural electrification, and it carries the same level of opportunity in terms of the development of the regions. Under the plan, the Government has committed to delivering a high speed broadband network to more than 750,000 premises, covering 100,000 kms of road network and 96% of the land area of the country. The implementation of the national broadband plan will allow communities and businesses in rural areas to compete effectively and realise their full potential.

In advance of the award of contracts for the roll out of the plan next year, my Department is working closely with the local authorities in every county to facilitate the installation of the broadband infrastructure by identifying and overcoming potential barriers to this installation. The local authorities have also identified approximately 400 strategic sites in their administrative areas which would be ideally suited as priority connection points for high speed broadband.

I would also like to highlight the ongoing developmental work currently being undertaken by my Department in respect of the commitment in the programme for Government to explore the idea of an Atlantic economic corridor. I led discussions with key public bodies on this initiative and more recently my Department undertook a round of discussions with the various chambers of commerce in the western region which published a concept document at the start of the year. A further meeting will take place early in the new year with a view to scoping out a work plan to progress this project.

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