Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State and wish him well in his portfolio. It is no doubt a very challenging one but also a very exciting one to be involved in. Once we have jobs, we can provide services. I welcome and commend the future targets and ambitions set out in the programme for a partnership Government. A commitment is made to reduce the unemployment rate to 6% and to increase the number at work by 200,000 by 2020, 135,000 of those people will be outside Dublin. It is particularly important to specify that jobs will be created outside of Dublin. There has been a lot of frustration in many parts of the country because growth was predominantly in the large urban centres. There are figures showing that the areas outside the big urban centres are coming along. When recovery happens, it is expected to take place in the big urban centres first. The job now is to shunt that out and make sure every area receives appropriate investment, growth and support and that we work on the opportunities and unique selling points of all the different regions around the country.

In the west and County Mayo where I am from, we were hit particularly hard by the collapse of the construction industry. That has not gone away, even though we have had economic recovery, some of which we can see on the ground. I am mindful of the figures which show that at the time of the collapse, one in four men was working in construction in the west compared to one in five in the rest of the country. Many people working in construction may also have had small subsistence farms and needed off-farm income to support families. Much of the west is still reeling from the construction industry collapse and needs help and support. If we do not push out development, investment and jobs everywhere, we will exacerbate the problems with housing, shortage of schools and public services in the big urban centres. It will only get worse. One thing we can say in many of these rural areas in the west is that we can offer a great standard of living and quality of life but people cannot live on fresh air. That is why we have emigration. The challenge in reducing the unemployment rate to 6% by 2020 will be to make sure it is equally reflected in the regions.

I welcome the action plan for jobs for the west region and all the regional action plans. Based on the good work of the national action plan for jobs, it gives us hope that there is a formula to produce those results in job creation and investment. If I was to suggest one important measure for growing small businesses, it would be continued support for the local enterprise offices. If one wants to see results on the ground, the local enterprise offices are closest to the people interested in job creation and who want to grow their businesses on a smaller scale. They can deliver on the Government objective if they are properly funded and supported. They work in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland. We have an excellent local enterprise office in Mayo and similar offices around the country are doing good work. One issue I am aware of, which I ask the Minister of State to look at in the context of the forthcoming budget, is the funding of local enterprise offices. If we do not support them, we are not looking after start-up, small businesses with between one and ten employees. That is when Enterprise Ireland kicks in. They need to be supported because they will, hopefully, lead to further jobs and growth. When someone comes forward with a business proposition, they have business plans and a sustainable proposition and are well vetted. In my area, strides are being made in the food industry and in light engineering and manufacturing. There is definitely scope for more growth if the correct support is given.

Mayo local enterprise office's subvention budget from Enterprise Ireland under measure one is €215,000 for the year. I was quite shocked to hear that. It is money to support jobs and capital investment in micro-industry but it has already been spent and people are already looking for more money. Surely that cannot be the case but it seems it is. The local enterprise office has €200,000 for training. It would seem that the way in which funding is given out does not reflect levels of demand or local economic activity.Where there is a demand there does not seem to be a provision that they are automatically going to get more money or make a business case for more. I understand that there is a historical process whereby funding is apportioned and it is only slightly weighted for bigger counties. I believe this situation seriously needs to be addressed, especially with regard to the shortfall in their funding. Their money is spent and we have not even hit the half-year market, although we are very close to it.

I would like to see more support for jobs. On the ground I can already see the jobs that have been supported, and more that can come, but they cannot do it without that funding. It does not mean anything to the ordinary small business that money is being given to Enterprise Ireland and to IDA Ireland. This is a very real way to see benefits on the ground and to fulfil our ambition - and the Minister's ambition - to achieve more economic activity and growth in the region. I ask the Minister of State to take this up and I would appreciate if he could get in contact with me about that particular concern.