Results 18,741-18,760 of 32,583 for speaker:Richard Bruton

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: God protect us from those fellows. I do not agree that there is a policy fault line. Looking at the hard numbers from our perspective, the IDA's performance in the Border region has resulted in an increase in employment of 21% in the past four years. That is a strong performance by any standard. There has been a 9% growth in terms of Enterprise Ireland's performance. More than 600...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I disagree with the Deputy's suggestion that InterTradeIreland is not a dynamic body.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy stated that we were not in a dynamic space, but I believe we are in a dynamic space. InterTradeIreland exceeded its employment target by 50% in 2014.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: We are trying, through the activity of this body, to have an economic impact. As I stated, it exceeded its employment target by 50% last year and is well past the halfway mark for its three-year target. As such, it is having an impact. The areas of activity to which the Deputy referred could not be more relevant. For example, InterTradeIreland is helping small companies to start their...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: First, I cannot remember in recent years Meath beating its target by 50% in any given year.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy is turning a blind eye to what is happening. There is genuine good performance and people are making solid impacts. I do not have access to the collaboration of local enterprise bodies but the existing INTERREG bid had joint applications and that is the sort of process we encourage. In our latest regional call I will encourage collaboration because anything that can tap into a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I do not say there is any disagreement but clearly this is something that would have to evolve on both sides if there is to be additional institutional collaboration. I am not up to speed on the collaboration in the tourism area but I am aware that Ministers meet regularly in respect of tourism North and South and there has been progress in the area. The Deputy would have to talk to the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I think there is always room for additional initiative in this area. What we are doing ourselves is trying to evolve our regional policy with a number of new tools we have put out into the field. This is an experimental period and I am definitely interested in seeing if they can evolve and if we can get involvement collaboratively across the Border. That would be very good for those...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Obviously, there is the Border, so North and South operate in two different jurisdictions with different Parliaments to which they are answerable. This clearly is a reality and what the Government has built is cross-Border institutional collaboration which it has turned into the channels it considers are best for driving real change. Consequently, there is significant collaboration on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Deputy should attend some of the events held by InterTradeIreland. That agency is anything but lethargic.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: I do not have those sort of data with me.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: No. I would need advance notice of such a question to provide the information being sought.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Approximately 18 trade missions take place each year - not all of them are organised by Enterprise Ireland - and approximately 60 firms participate on them, which means the total per year would be somewhere between 600 and 700.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: No. I do not know what the number is in that regard. The figure I provided represents the total involved.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: As the Deputy is aware, I was involved in a joint trade mission with Arlene Foster. That was the first such trade mission of its kind ever but it proved to be extremely successful. The mission in question was centred around aviation, and we travelled to Singapore, where there is an aviation cluster. A number of the precision engineering companies which operate in the South are...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is leading the spatial planning exercise and, therefore, the Deputy would be better to direct his question in this regard to the relevant Minister.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Yes.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: There is a process involving local authorities and their regional assemblies. In the context of NUTS 3 regions, we are working with local authorities and our own agencies in the context of seeking to develop regional enterprise strategies. We were deliberately timing those ahead of the emergence of the wider regional infrastructure plan in order to get the enterprise thinking, needs,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: All-Island Economy: Discussion (Resumed) (26 May 2015)

Richard Bruton: Priority is being given to encouraging FDI to set up in the Border region. That is a distinct feature of the IDA's latest plan, in which we have committed to strategic investment in advance facilities in Sligo, Letterkenny and Dundalk and we have committed to increase the number of projects won by 40%. InterTradeIreland and INTERREG are focused on the needs of SMEs with export potential....