Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the current regional spread of jobs and on Industrial Development Agency Ireland site visits; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41757/15]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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The various regional jobs action plans are being rolled out around the country but I am seeking specific information. All of the plans contain commitments to increase the number of new IDA Ireland investments, as opposed to existing employment. Many of these commitments are similar, with the targets for the mid-west, south west and the west set at 30% to 40%. I ask the Minister to detail the specific actions that will be taken by IDA Ireland to drive these figures, particularly in the context of the poor performance in recent years.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I am encouraged by the overall strong recovery in employment, with a net 135,000 extra people back at work in enterprises right across the country. While every region has seen employment expansion in its IDA Ireland-supported base, we have not experienced equal recovery in all sectors which is why I have launched the regional Action Plan for Jobs. I would point out to the Deputy that the plan is not confined to IDA Ireland developments because almost 90% of the enterprise base in the regions is Irish owned. Indeed, since the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs, approximately 90% of the additional jobs created have come from Irish-owned companies in the regions. It is important to recognise the contribution and ingenuity of Irish enterprise.

Foreign direct investment, FDI, is a key part of IDA Ireland's strategy to improve its performance in the regions. The agency has set a target of between 30% and 40% in new investment won in each region. It has strengthened its regional office network and that network's connection into its overseas network of offices. The agency is committed to a new programme of advance facilities and other priority property initiatives in the regions. Site visits, to which the Deputy referred, are not an accurate reflection of regional progress. IDA Ireland-supported companies have provided over 10,000 net new jobs outside Dublin since the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs. It is encouraging to see that the regional spread has been improving every year.

Work on the Action Plan for Jobs is now entering the implementation phase. We will be sitting down with regional interests in the monitoring group to oversee the implementation of the strategy. All of the agencies within my Department are wholly committed to the delivery of this approach.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I accept that there are many more elements to the Action Plan for Jobs than IDA Ireland, although I pay tribute to the agency for the work it does. The Action Plan for Jobs for the west has a very specific target. It refers to 92 additional projects from IDA Ireland within the lifetime of the plan. However, between 2013 and the end of September 2015, 561 IDA Ireland site visits were to Dublin and a full 71% of them were to sites in the greater Dublin area. I am trying to work out how we will move on from this situation when the majority of site visits are to the Dublin area. The Minister has said that site visits are not the be all and end all but unless we bring potential investors to a location, they will not invest in that location. Given the disparity in terms of putting the bait out to catch the fish, how are we going to entice investors into the regions when we are not bringing them there? The Minister is long enough in politics to know that the investment cycle, in terms of a decision to invest, starts years out in advance.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his comments. It is important to bear in mind that 70% of the wins by IDA Ireland in terms of job expansion come from the existing base of companies. Deputy Calleary will know that the west of Ireland has had a very strong performance in the last four years, with a net increase in the numbers working in IDA Ireland companies of 27%. Indeed, all counties have experienced a significant increase but we believe that we can do better. We propose to create magnets within the regions through the construction of advance facilities. This approach has not been used for some time. We have deliberately sought to locate those facilities close to significant labour pools within the regions so that we have a strong offering to encourage investment.

10 o’clock

Apart from the advance facilities, IDA Ireland will look to build on the strength of its offering in the regions as well as the more effective sale of the region and better co-ordination of regional actors in promoting the area and supporting the agency's marketing efforts. All those can contribute and that is why a multi-stakeholder approach to this is being adopted in the regional plan.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I agree with the Minister about the existing workforce and I would direct those commentators, particularly in the US, who have commented on the Allergan takeover this week, which I welcome, to the quality of the 1,000 strong workforce in Westport. The Minister made a specific commitment in the Action Plan on Jobs to provide 92 additional new projects to give new opportunities to a talented workforce to show its stuff and I am not convinced based on building two advance units in Galway and one in Castlebar and improved promotion, measures we have been asking the Minister to take for four years, that there is a roadmap. I am trying to get from him how specifically we will go from such a low base of new projects to 92 over the next few years but I will not get that this morning.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is welcome to examine IDA Ireland's strategy and talk to IDA Ireland officials as well. They have been successful in targeting, for example, emerging companies that are making their first move, particularly from the US, to a European base and attracting these high-growth companies. Where we have a win such as Uber in Limerick, a high-growth company expanding rapidly, those wins can be significant. To get such companies into a region sets the region up not only for that project, but it is also a reference sale on which we can build.

I do not deny this is an ambitious programme but we are putting in place solid actions for this year on which we will build in the effort to deliver these projects. I welcome the Deputy's support for it. We can do better if we get all the actors in the regions working to these common goals and that is what I intend to do.