Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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9. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he is taking to support enterprise development in the midland and western regions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41425/15]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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I welcome the publication of the jobs action plans for the midlands and the west, which focus on our strengths in those regions. It is important that these plans do not just mean investment for Galway city and Castlebar. While I welcome the fact that I see my own fingerprints on some of the proposals in the western plan, the frustrating thing is that the investment that has taken place over the past few years has been very much focused on Galway city. For every 29 jobs created in Galway city, we have seen just two.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Deputy's support for the process. One of the things we have lacked over the years is a genuine attempt to have bottom-up regional development which embraces the stakeholders in the region and gets them involved in a set of objectives for the region and actions that can transform it. As the Deputy knows, since the start of the Action Plan for Jobs we have seen a net increase of 135,800 people at work. That is well in excess of the target we set. Every region is experiencing jobs growth and, interestingly, the midlands region has been one of the star performers in terms of the pace of growth, although it probably suffered particularly badly in the crash.

The action plans for the midlands and the west launched over the last few months contain, as the Deputy says, a series of practical actions developed in collaboration with the regional stakeholders to support enterprise growth. I would point out, as I did to Deputy Calleary, that 90% of the extra jobs in the regions have come from Irish-owned companies. Any reasonable debate about regional development has to focus on developing the ingenuity and capacity of those firms to grow. Nonetheless, IDA projects are important. As I said to Deputy Calleary, we have set a target of increasing them. We will have an advanced facility in Athlone, as Deputy Naughten knows.

To give examples of some of the actions, there is a skills forum to look at the skills mix; there will be an initiative to develop a marketing proposition around high-value manufacturing, which is a cluster spread well throughout the region; we are looking at a midlands manufacturing technology campus, which I think has a good spread; we are examining the capacity for development of the various tourism spines; and we are looking at the medical devices sector, which is thankfully located not just around the city. The plan is looking at a range of actions, and it also involves a competitive call that allows others to come forward with initiatives that have not been outlined at this point.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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I thank the Minister and do not dispute anything he has said. The regional plans do bring a new focus to what we are actually good at. May I ask specifically about the status of the midlands plan in respect of the skills forum? As the Minister knows, young people will be filling out their CAO forms in a few weeks. What progress has been made since this was launched last June?

The Minister will be aware that we are set to lose another 35 jobs in Carrick-on-Shannon at the MBNA site. We have the staff and facilities there to facilitate the expansion of a financial services company tomorrow morning if required. We have 45,000 square feet of walk-in office space now becoming available in Roscommon town. We have 60,000 square feet at the St. Brigid's complex in Ballinasloe, which could be retrofitted into offices with four broadband cables on either side. In view of the pressure on office accommodation in Dublin, can we target some foreign direct investment to those sites?

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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There will be a six-monthly review. I am attending the first six-monthly review, not of the midlands but of the south east, where we will be sitting down with the stakeholders. It is a broad base so it is enterprise as well as public bodies. We are starting that process of reviews. It will be a progressive element. It is an evolving process, so new ideas can be included and we will soon have the competitive calls which will trigger new initiatives. They are under assessment at the moment.

The IDA has set a target of increasing projects won by 40%, and that has meant examining its existing property offering wherever it is available, promoting it more effectively and also examining where it needs to enhance its offering in order to act as a magnet. That has been the thinking behind the setting aside of a significant budget for property enhancement. I am absolutely confident that with a stronger regional management arrangement in each of the regions, the IDA will now be actively promoting the available sites the Deputy mentioned.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
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The Minister is correct when he points out that 90% of the growth is coming from indigenous local employers. Does he not agree that we need to support existing employers and those who want to set up or expand their business in their local areas? As he rightly points out, we are going to face challenges in many parts of the country in bringing in foreign direct investment, FDI. There is a discrepancy. For example, for every 29 jobs created in Galway city we are getting two in my constituency, Roscommon-Galway. In light of that, would it be possible to try to front-load and make additional funding available to the local enterprise offices, LEOs, in the likes of Roscommon and for businesses in east Galway where we will struggle to get FDI but where we can support local businesses? That fund runs out in both our counties by the middle of the year, which means we cannot expand and grow these enterprises in the second half of the year.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In respect of Irish-owned business, most of the effort and 70% of the budget I have goes into supporting Irish-owned business, and we have tried to do new things. There have been major improvements in access to finance and various instruments. There has also been a major expansion of Lean, innovation and other initiatives that can help companies to up their game, such as new models to help people to recruit, and so on. We have a competitive call out for LEOs, so it is based on the quality of the proposals that come in, but we are not allocating money automatically. We committed to this and we said at the outset that part of this process would be competitive calls to encourage more collaboration and more innovation. The LEO is to become a centre of innovation for SMEs. We are following that and having a competitive call so the best projects will win. That is the right way to go. Resources are constrained, so I cannot allocate special moneys to anything, but we are using the money we have in as creative a way as we can.