Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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67. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the south-east regional enterprise plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22078/23]

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I ask the Minister of State to provide an update on the south-east regional enterprise plan.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her question. The south-east regional enterprise plan covers Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford. It was launched in Wexford on 24 March 2022. As the Deputy knows, each regional enterprise plan is overseen and monitored by a steering committee made up of regional stakeholders and chaired by a senior-level private sector businessperson.

I attended the most recent meeting of the steering committee for the south-east regional enterprise plan on 23 March. The meeting was hosted in workLAB in Waterford. Excellent progress is being made in delivering on the objectives of the plan. I can advise the Deputy further that my Department has secured up to €145 million from the European Regional Development Fund to drive implementation of the regional enterprise plans. We expect the first call of €35 million to be announced in the coming months.

The Deputy will be aware that my Department is holding nine Building Better Business conferences around the country. These conferences focus on the opportunities and challenges for businesses of digital transformation and the transition to a low-carbon economy, as well as showcasing the Government and agency supports available to small and medium enterprises. To date, two conferences, one in the north west and the other in the midlands, have taken place. The next event will be on 26 May in the mid west. we will be hosting a similar event in the south east on Friday, 14 July.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State for that answer. In March of last year, the south-east regional enterprise plan, covering counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford, was launched. It is one of nine new enterprise plans throughout the country that will be funded, I understand, by up to €180 million. This funding is to drive the implementation of plans that will develop and implement collaborative and innovation enterprise projects in the regions and support sustainable jobs. I have written to IDA Ireland requesting an urgent meeting with it and the Carlow local authority because I am concerned that there has been an enormous lack of IDA Ireland visits to my county of Carlow. I know that site visits do not necessarily reflect potential investment as a significant percentage of new FDI comes from existing IDA Ireland client companies. However, we have a brand-new beautiful building on the Dublin road and a fabulous new IDA Ireland park. I am trying to get information about whether it has clients, who is going in or what is happening but I do not know. I am here today looking for information from the Minister of State on this brand-new IDA Ireland park.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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I do not doubt the beauty of the park, given that it is in the Deputy's home county. It is a testament to the Government's investment in IDA Ireland's regional property programme that we can make those kinds of investments in bringing those IDA Ireland business parks up to the level they are now at. We are not building them for decoration; we are building them to attract investment and to ensure we have the best possible facilities. I am more than happy to engage with IDA Ireland on site visits to Carlow but given its track record and its success to date, I think we can be confident that it will market Carlow and that particular site after having made the investment and will continue to do so. I would also point out the opportunities that are available under the regional enterprise plan, as the Deputy has identified. There will be opportunities for Carlow-based projects to apply for funding under that model.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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It is vital that we build a balanced regional recovery, one that is focused on future enterprise development and sustainable job creation for a long time. We have to be practical here. In the south east, there are Waterford, Kilkenny and Carlow. Ours is the smallest county. While we are now a university county and town - it is great to have that and it is such an achievement and delivery from the Government - I always feel that because we are the smallest county in the region, Carlow is forgotten. Great work is being done but we are always compared to the bigger counties or cities in the south east. I have concerns. I ask the Minister of State to meet with me and IDA Ireland, and I know he will. The plan is for this to be a unique responsive opportunity for the needs of the region with a focus on regional collaboration but my focus is Carlow and Kilkenny. Carlow has such opportunities to give here.

We are so near Dublin and we have so much to offer, I take this opportunity to ask that Carlow become a priority.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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There is no fear of it being forgotten when Deputy Murnane O'Connor is here. Under the existing south-east regional enterprise plan, Carlow Community Enterprise Centres received a priming grant to develop a technological export and innovation centre, TEIC.

Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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That is right.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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That is the kind of project that will potentially receive funding under the new plan to bring it to the next level. It is the kind of innovative project from within the county that has a far better chance of succeeding and making a long-term investment and impact on the Deputy's county, particularly, as she said, with the new technological university there. I am more than happy to sit down with the Deputy and engage with IDA Ireland. I assure her that IDA Ireland is working hard across the country. In particular, because of the investment the Government has made in IDA Ireland's property programme, it is working to market centres like the Carlow Business Park. I look forward to working with the Deputy on that.