Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I am raising this matter in light of the recently published and very good report of the Western Development Commission, WDC, on trends in agency-assisted employment in the western region. The employment created by businesses that receive support from one of the main enterprise agencies - which are usually export-oriented in outlook - is termed "agency-assisted employment". The report of the WDC presents data on these businesses in the western region for the period 2004 to 2013 in the interests of providing useful insights regarding enterprise, job creation and regional development policy. The report indicates that in 2013 there were 49,217 permanent, full-time jobs and 7,405 temporary or part-time jobs in agency-assisted companies in the western region, approximately 16% of all such jobs in Ireland. The report also indicates that in 2012 growth in the region was measured at only 0.13%. This compares with a figure of 3.2% in the remainder of the State in the same period. The rate relating to assisted jobs, as a percentage of the region’s total employment, stands at 18.2%, which is below the figure of 19.1% which obtains in the remainder of the State. Of the five sectors of employment, modern manufacturing is the region’s largest, followed by traditional manufacturing, information and communications, and agrifood. Business, financial and other services is the smallest sector. In the western region, 62.1% of permanent assisted jobs are concentrated in the top two sectors, compared with just 49.2% in the remainder of the State. This highlights the reliance on these key sectors and the need for increased diversity in the region’s assisted sector.

Of the seven western counties, Sligo, Leitrim and Clare experienced declines in total assisted employment in 2013 whereas the other four all experienced growth. County Roscommon enjoyed the best level of performance, followed, in descending order, by Mayo, Donegal and Galway. At 38.1%, Donegal has the lowest foreign ownership share in the region. In the national context, western counties tend to have relatively high shares of foreign ownership, which is the legacy of foreign direct investment, FDI, across the region over a period. Agrifood is the second largest sector, accounting for just over a quarter of assisted employment in the large rural counties of Mayo, Donegal and Roscommon. In a national context, however, the sector does not play a particularly big role in western counties as the region's agriculture sector is not as strong as those which obtain in the south west and the south east. Roscommon and Leitrim have not benefited as much from recent jobs growth as other counties. One of the clearest patterns identified in the report is the extent to which assisted employment plays a larger role in cities.

Of the seven western counties, Sligo and Clare incurred greater job losses than gains between 2012 and 2013, leading to a net decline in both in assisted permanent full-time employment.

In Sligo's case, job losses were 162% of job gains in 2013. For total assisted employment, permanent full-time and temporary part-time, the western region experienced a 6% decline between 2004 and 2013. In contrast, the rest of the State had 4% growth in the same period.

Among the western counties, Galway and Mayo were the only counties with higher total assisted employment in 2013 than ten years earlier, Galway growing by 5.3% and Mayo by 1%, Leitrim suffered the largest decline of 43.5% followed by Roscommon, Donegal, Clare and Sligo having similar performances to each other declining by 10%. Overall, the region had 2.8% growth, which is below the 3.9% in the rest of the State. One of the common patterns is a high concentration of employment in the two largest sectors. Modern manufacturing is the largest assisted employment sector in the western region. However, in a national context the agrifood sector does not play a particularly large role in western counties. We also have figures for Galway and other areas. It is quite obvious that any upturn in the economy, apart from Galway city, is not being felt by western and rural regions. What strategy has the Government in place to reverse these trends?