Dáil debates

Tuesday, 4 December 2018

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions

Regional Enterprise Development Fund

5:55 pm

Photo of Martin HeydonMartin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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64. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when successful projects under the regional enterprise development fund will be announced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50441/18]

Photo of Pat GallagherPat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy McLoughlin has been given permission to take this question on behalf of Deputy Heydon.

Photo of Tony McLoughlinTony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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This question was submitted in advance of the Minister's announcement on Monday of the €30 million allocated to the regional enterprise development fund. I ask her to elaborate on that announcement.

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On Monday morning in Navan I was delighted to announce just over €29 million in funding by my Department through Enterprise Ireland under the second call of the regional enterprise development fund, REDF. This funding has been awarded to 21 regional projects throughout the country, bringing the total amount of funding awarded under the two calls of this scheme to €60 million across 42 projects in all regions. The REDF was designed to support the ambition in the Programme for a Partnership Government to create an additional 200,000 new jobs by 2020, of which 135,000 are to be located outside of Dublin. One of the principal criteria within the scheme is that proposed projects would strengthen the potential for job creation in their region, thereby contributing to delivering on the Government’s ambition.

The REDF is aimed at accelerating economic recovery in all regions of the country by delivering on the potential of local and regional enterprise strengths. The fund is supporting significant collaborative and innovative regional initiatives to build on specific industry sectoral strengths and improve enterprise capability, thereby driving job creation. This will be achieved by co-financing the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. The fund will help to ensure the benefits of our growing economy are felt in all regions. Projects submitted by the 28 June deadline went through a rigorous seven-stage process before being awarded funding.

This was a competitive process and so not all projects were successful. To ensure a balanced regional spread, however, I committed to ensuring that each region would benefit by at least €2 million from the fund once the required standard for projects was met under the evaluation criteria. This threshold has now been met across all regions. As of Monday, all projects have been informed of their result in the competition. Further funding calls will be considered as part of a wider review of the REDF in the new year.

Photo of Tony McLoughlinTony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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I compliment the Minister, her team and Enterprise Ireland for the work that has gone into the allocation of this €30 million in recent days. I was pleased that my own constituency of Sligo-Leitrim got €1.9 million for the Sligo Enterprise and Technology Centre in Strandhill. That is an area crying out for a development such as this. Great effort has been put into that development, as it has in Drumshambo, where €950,000 was allocated to the Leitrim Food Enterprise Zone project. It is a project that has been highlighted for the past several years and it is a continuation of the hub already in Drumshambo. The area allocated for development in Strandhill is full to capacity. People are very happy with the Minister's announcement of the €1.9 million on Monday, as indeed is the board of the Sligo Enterprise and Technology Centre and that of the project in Drumshambo.

Photo of Heather HumphreysHeather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy McLoughlin for his kind remarks. On Monday, under the second call of the regional enterprise development fund, I announced more than €25 million in funding. Some 21 projects from all over the country received funding. This is in addition to the €30 million in funding in the first call of the regional enterprise development fund that I announced in December 2017. That also funded 21 projects. This is good news for the north west.

Over the first and second calls of the regional enterprise development fund, the region secured total funding of €5.2 million for four projects. In the first call, €1.1 million was allocated to create an innovative ecosystem in Inishowen in County Donegal and €1.2 million was allocated for the development of a network of three digital and innovation hubs in counties Leitrim, Cavan and Longford. As Deputy McLoughlin mentioned, there was €1.9 million for a digital and technology hub at Sligo Enterprise and Technology Centre for entrepreneurs in digital gaming and associated technologies. The project in Leitrim is especially good because that is the project of the owner of the company that makes Drumshambo Gunpowder Gin, which has gone on to international success.