Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht her plans to replicate the Western Development Commission, WDC, model in the other regions; and when the capital fund assigned to the WDC for its strategic regional development office will be accessible to the organisation. [20159/16]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The question relates to the Western Development Commission, which is seen as a successful model that is working. We have problems in other regions in the State with very high levels of unemployment. The Minister might be aware that unemployment in the south east is at 12.5%, which is double that of our capital city, Dublin, and much higher than the national average of less than 8%. Does the Minister have plans to replicate in other regions a model that seems to be working well in one part of the country?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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The Western Development Commission was established in 1997 as a response to the severe population decline of the west and it was put on a statutory basis in 1999 under the Western Development Commission Act 1998. The aim of the Western Development Commission is to promote, foster and encourage economic and social development in the western region, which covers counties Donegal, Leitrim, Sligo, Mayo, Roscommon, Galway and Clare.

The Western Development Commission continues its work in respect of five strategic goals, namely, to contribute to balanced regional development by ensuring that the western region maximises its full potential for economic and social development; to promote the benefits of living, working and doing business in the west; to support the sustainable economic and social development of the rural economy; to provide risk capital to small and medium enterprises, SMEs, and social enterprises; and to operate the Western Development Commission as a competent and effective organisation. My Department currently has no plans to roll out a replica Western Development Commission model in other regions.

With regard to the capital fund allocated to the Western Development Commission to support regional economic development in the west, it recently submitted proposals, which I am currently considering, on how the additional capital funding might be best utilised to advance economic development in the region. I have arranged to meet the Western Development Commission in the next week to discuss its proposals in detail.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for the response. He set out the commission's statutory role, which I accept.

The Minister of State sets out the rationale for putting in place the commission, which is to contribute to balanced regional development to ensure we have social and economic development in the west region, to provide risk capital and also capital investment. I do not dispute that all of these measures are necessary in the west region but the current unemployment levels in the south-east region are five percentage points ahead of the west. I had this conversation with the Taoiseach recently and I have put a Topical Issues question to the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the matter. It is simply not good enough that unemployment levels are 12.5% in one part of the State when the national level is 8%. It shows that there are very real structural problems in the economy.

A jobs forum which was established for the south-east region by the previous Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation is not on a statutory footing. Will the Minister of State with responsibility for regional economic development give a commitment that he will look at this model and replicate it for the south-east?

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Even though he said he needed just two minutes, I cannot let the Deputy away with it.

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Cullinane is quite correct in the question he has raised and it is a very valid point. In fairness to the last Government, the jobs forum was one of the very good things it did. The forum was effective and up to recently some 135,000 extra jobs were created in the State. There are black spots that remain to be examined at Government level. There are other agencies that also need to start looking at these jobs black spots. This was one reason for setting up the Western Development Commission. We are trying to achieve balanced regional development, to get people to come in to the west, the south and the north regions.

The Deputy was correct when he said that while there is major employment in Dublin the regions do not have the same chances. This is why the Western Development Commission was set up. While it is not my Department the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation did a good job with regard to the jobs forum. A Cabinet sub-committee was formed which met on a regular basis and it certainly got the jobs. However, we now want to see balanced development happening in the regions. We do not want all the jobs to go to one particular area. We want to see them in the south, east, west and north regions.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I have heard all the spiel about jobs. I recognise that jobs have been created and I accept that unemployment levels are down but every time issues are raised which need addressing, I do not need the Government rehashing what it has done and boasting about its credentials on providing jobs. I am asking the Minister of State a very simple question.

The situation we have is not just a black spot. There are black spots and then there is an entire region. An entire region of the State - which is 500,000 people - has an unemployment level of 12.5%. Within that region - in Waterford city for example - unemployment is at an even higher level which illustrates the structural problems in the region that can only be addressed if there is a statutory body similar to the one in the west region. Will the Minister of State commit to doing for the south-east region what has been done for the west region regarding a development commission?

Michael Ring (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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At the moment, in my own Department, this is a new area being set up. Of course we will look at ways of creating jobs in every part of the regions. However, to be honest, there are a lot of agencies out there now including State agencies such as IDA Ireland and the local employment offices. This is not really within my portfolio, it is more the jobs arena, but there are many State agencies that cover this, even in the west region. I am looking at the numbers of agencies to see if some could be amalgamated. Sometimes if there are too many agencies it can result in nobody doing what they should be doing or there can be duplication of effort. I am looking to review the number of State agencies.

I am glad Deputy Cullinane acknowledged the many jobs that have been created but I would like to see more jobs in the regions. It is my job, as Minister of State, to ensure that the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation does this. I will be meeting with the Minister in the coming weeks and I will be putting pressure on every Department to look at valid regional development and spreading jobs out to the regions.