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

Since the launch of the regional Action Plan for Jobs in 2015 there has been an increase of 266,900 people in employment across the State, with 166,400 people at the end of 2018 in the regions outside Dublin entering employment in that period. Overall, the recently published 2018 quarter 4 CSO labour force survey employment figures are very positive. The survey shows that employment continues to grow strongly, with 50,500 jobs created in the year from the fourth quarter of 2017 to quarter 4 in 2018. That brings total employment to 2,281,300, the highest number at work ever recorded. During this period, the number employed increased, while the unemployment rate decreased in all regions. While the number in employment increased in six of the eight regions in the last year, the exceptions are the mid-west and the Border region. We remain committed to achieving an overall jobs uplift of between 10% and 15% in each region by 2020 and bringing or maintaining unemployment levels in each region to within at least one percentage point of the State average.

Unemployment has fallen in every region since the launch of the regional Action Plan for Jobs. Only two regions, the midlands and the south east, are outside the unemployment target set for 2020. Earlier this month I announced very good results from the local enterprise offices throughout the State. Overall, they supported the creation of 3,656 net new jobs in 2018. All regions saw increases in IDA Ireland employment during 2018, with the midlands region experiencing the highest growth, at 14%. Two thirds, or 64%, of new Enterprise Ireland jobs created in 2018 were outside Dublin. The north west saw the largest level of increases, at 9%. In April 2018 I asked all of the regional Action Plan for Jobs implementation committees to start a process to refresh and refocus all regional plans to ensure their relevance and impact to 2020 in order that they could continue to deliver jobs across the country in every region.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

It will also help the plans to be robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit. The outcome of the refresh process is nine new regional enterprise plans to 2020 which build on the very strong progress made in employment creation under the regional Action Plan for Jobs for the period 2015 to 2017. I am in the process of launching the new plans, with eight plans launched to date.

See this speech in context