Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation continues to be a key policy priority of mine and this Government. Throughout 2021, my Department has overseen the development of nine new regional enterprise plans to 2024, including for the south east, which covers County Carlow. A key feature and strength of the regional enterprise plans is that they are developed using a bottom-up approach, which is developed by regional stakeholders who are keenly aware of the growth opportunities and vulnerabilities in their region and of the benefits of working collaboratively. Stakeholder consultation sessions attracted attendees from across industry and the public sector and higher education sectors from within the region. The sessions highlighted the high level of collaboration and ambition that exists within the region, with a strong sense of optimism prevalent despite some regional challenges.

I was pleased to launch the south-east plan in Wexford on 24 March. The new plan contains five strategic objectives and related actions to be delivered by the end of 2024 and my officials are engaging with the regional chairpersons and programme managers as implementation commences. The plan's strategic objectives are as follows: start and grow, that is, encouraging entrepreneurship and enhancing the region's start-up ecosystem; green growth, namely, ensuring that the green economy becomes an engine for future job creation and economic growth in the region; smart specialisation and clustering, that is, the principles of smart specialisation and clustering are critical for the region to create a resilient, inclusive, sustainable and competitive economy; innovate, that is, building on our existing research and development capacity to place innovation at the heart of the south-east economy; and placemaking, namely, developing a region that is attractive to both domestic and international visitors and communicating the benefits of living and working in the south-east, which is something the Deputy does on regular occasions.

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