Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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I tabled this Commencement matter because I am asking for more investment in job creation in north and east Mayo. I want to ensure the State agencies responsible for job creation and investment, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and to a lesser extent the local enterprise office, are doing their job in this particular area. My focus is on this area as opposed to Mayo as a whole.

The last census showed a decline in population in the area. We have an older population and younger people have left mainly to get work. In many cases they are highly educated young people. However, after getting third level qualifications they cannot find appropriate jobs in north and east Mayo. The region is highly dependent on the agrifood and tourism sectors. As we all know, these sectors will be particularly adversely impacted by Brexit. I ask the Minister of State to set out the plans to ramp up investment.

In November 2015 the Action Plan for Jobs west was launched with targets some of which went up to 2019. It placed obligations on IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland and the local enterprise offices to deliver. I ask the Minister of State to outline, based on his scorecard, how they have been delivering for north and east Mayo. How many visits have IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland organised for this area? What have they been doing? What are their successes? What is in the pipeline? What is planned?

The region has much to offer. We have a tradition of med-tech companies. Hollister must have been there for 40 years and it employs nearly 830 people. Coca-Cola and Baxter are located in the region. I have listed out some of the selling points that IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland should highlight to potential investors. A high-speed transatlantic fibre optic cable makes landfall at the Asahi site at Killala with planning permission for a data centre beside it. There is also planning permission for a renewable energy electricity plant beside it.

Up the road in Ballina, for about 15 years IDA Ireland has had a designated technology park with services to it, but has done nothing with it. Around Ballina there is a metropolitan area network. High-speed fibre optic cable services the town, which is very well serviced overall. There are metropolitan area networks around Ireland West Airport in Knock, Kiltimagh and Claremorris. What do we have to show for this? How does the Minister of State envisage the area selling itself as a hub? What is its selling point? As technology is up and coming, it would be an area where we should be able to sell ourselves. How is that being done?

The issues relating to planning permission for a data centre in Athenry have been well rehearsed. The Asahi plant has planning permission, but there is no data centre. A renewable energy plant could potentially be built beside it and the fibre optic cable is in place. The area has so much going for it but nothing seems to be happening. It is high time to challenge the State agencies so that we can see delivery for this area. The champions of industry and business and the people on the ground themselves have an appetite to get stuck in and see delivery under the Action Plan for Jobs.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Mulherin for raising the issue, which I have addressed in respect of other areas of the country where Deputies and Senators have similar concerns to those of the Senator. The regional action plan for jobs initiative has been a central pillar of the Government’s ability to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, with 135,000 of these jobs to be located outside of Dublin. There is an overall goal to have a further 10% to 15% at work in each region by 2020 and to ensure the unemployment rate of each region is within 1 percentage point of the State average. Yesterday we got the really good news from the Central Statistics Office that for the first time in ten years the unemployment rate came down to 5.9%. That is a very important indicator of what is happening regarding job creation around the country.

The west regional action plan, covering Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, was launched in November 2015. It aims to increase employment in the region by 10% to 15% over the period to 2020, resulting in the delivery of 25,000 jobs. Implementation of the plan is overseen and monitored by a regional implementation committee made up of representatives from the public and private sector.

At the end of 2017 the west had an unemployment rate of 5.9%. It is important to point out that the number of people in employment in the west region increased by 15,500 between the first quarter of 2015, the baseline year, and the second quarter of 2017, representing good progress towards the target of 25,000 by 2020. Over the year to the second quarter of 2017, an additional 3,800 took up employment in the west region.

I am pleased to say that the overall employment trends in foreign direct investment for County Mayo are positive. In County Mayo there are 16 IDA Ireland-supported companies employing 4,462 in total. In the past two years there have been two notable successes. Coca-Cola announced an investment of €26 million in its Ballina operations and Fort Wayne Metals announced a €10 million expansion of its production operations in Castlebar.

County Mayo has experienced a 26% increase in FDI employment from 2012 to 2017. Job numbers in IDA Ireland client companies there have grown from 3,537 in 2012 to 4,462 at the end of last year. IDA Ireland’s client base in the county has performed well, retaining a healthy presence in the west region despite a challenging global economic operating environment over recent years. Over the past year alone, the number of IDA Ireland-supported jobs in Mayo increased by 5%, and the agency continues to work hard to create further employment opportunities in the county and to increase the number of multinational companies located there.

The Senator needs to understand that IDA Ireland is competing against many other countries, particularly the UK. That is why IDA Ireland needs to think regionally rather than focusing on certain towns. It is competing against cities such as Manchester and Birmingham with populations of about 3 million.There is fierce competition in the context of jobs. While IDA Ireland can indicate where it would like the relevant company to locate, and the Senator talked about her area in this regard, ultimately, it is a matter for that company to decide where to locate.

In 2017, the number of Enterprise Ireland jobs increased by 7% in the west. Indigenous jobs are very important. On 16 April this year the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and I met the chairs of the regional action plan for jobs committees, including representatives from the west region, and other regional stakeholders to start a process to refresh and refocus all regional plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. It was a very important gathering in Farmleigh, where we met all the relevant stakeholders, including those from the north west, to outline the importance of what was needed in their regions. We can take that on board when preparing the regional action plan for jobs. On the same date, a further €30 million was announced in funding under the second call of the regional enterprise development fund, REDF, which is aimed at driving enterprise development and job creation in each region. Under the first call, the REDF has already supported 21 collaborative and innovative initiatives that can have a significant impact on enterprise development in the regions and nationally.

We must acknowledge the good work done by the local enterprise offices, LEOs. The LEO in Mayo works closely with businesses and organisations, such as Moy Valley Resources in Ballina, Ballina Chamber of Commerce and Destination North Mayo, to promote economic development and enterprise creation. Specific targeting of LEO supports is achieved through the use of the LEO outreach clinics which regularly occur. A significant number of training programmes and business advice clinics have taken place in Ballina over the past three years. Some 21 projects in food manufacturing and processing, other manufacturing, medical devices manufacture, engineering, business services, craft and furniture and light consumer goods manufacture have been supported in north and east Mayo, totalling €351,858 over the same period. Export assistance totalling €21,537 was also provided over the period in question. Since July of last year, the Leader local action group in Mayo has approved 50 projects for Leader funding of almost €1.8 million. Over half of these projects are aimed at rural economic development, enterprise development and job creation, which is one of the three programme themes under which Leader funding is provided.

I know Senator Mulherin works extremely hard for her constituents in Mayo, particularly in the north of the county from where she hails. I assure her my Department will work together with the agencies - Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the LEOs - to ensure delivery of the employment targets for the county under the regional action plan for jobs up to 2020. We are working hard to ensure this happens, which is why we have had a lot of consultation with the various agencies and local stakeholders. I thank the Senator for raising this issue, which I have dealt with on many occasions in both Dáil and Seanad.

Michelle Mulherin (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge the remarkable work that has been done by him and his predecessors in the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation in reversing our fortunes and bringing us almost to a point of full employment nationally. However, even Project Ireland 2040 acknowledges regional imbalance. The west is playing catch up. While I am talking about the north and the east of the county, Mayo is the third largest county, so we are talking about a vast area. I understand that FDI companies decide where they want to establish operations. I also understand the challenges and intricacies involved. However, I am asking what efforts have been made to encourage new FDI into Mayo. I acknowledge that there has been growth among the existing FDI companies. Those companies have been very successful and are very much part of the community and invest in it.

I set out a list for the Minister of State of what should be selling points for us, namely, the transatlantic fibre-optic cable, high-speed, state-of-the-art technology, planning permission for a data centre, a renewable power station and a technology park. Can he tell me why IDA Ireland is doing nothing with the technology park in Ballina? It has been there since I was on the town council and the council did everything to facilitate the acquisition and servicing of the site and planning permission, but nothing has been done with it. I am acutely aware of what is happening in the area. I do not expect FDI in every town and village as that would be unreasonable. I am asking that, nationally, we position ourselves as an open economy to attract FDI. We want and need more in this area. We have a substantial population and the figures show we are losing young people, notwithstanding jobs growth. The reason there has been a reduction in the unemployment figures is that people have emigrated or migrated to the big urban centres, putting pressure on housing, education and so on, resources which we have an abundance of in our area.

While the Minister may not be able to answer me today, I did flag these issues. I ask that he would perhaps get some answers about the technology park and about these different pieces of infrastructure, which would allow us to position ourselves as a technology hub. However, there does not seem to be an appetite to do that. Perhaps there is some work going on behind the scenes of which I am not aware. If so, the general public, the taxpayer and I would like to know about it.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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I will follow up on that. As I said, I understand the Senator's passion for her area. We do not want to go back to the dark days of the past, when people had to emigrate from Mayo. When I go to the US on trade missions, the number of Mayo people, or the descendants of those who emigrated during the Famine and at other times, whom I meet is significant and perhaps more than from other counties. However, it is not all about FDI. The statistics relating to FDI show, as the Senator acknowledged, that it is important we nurture some of the existing companies as they grow and expand. Sometimes one can overlook the significance of those companies that are in Mayo. It is important we nurture them and ensure they continue to grow in the region. In fact, some 70% of new jobs in multinational companies are in existing companies that are already in the country, which is an important factor to take into account. Small to medium sized industries employ 60% to 70% of the workforce, which is significant. That is why the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland have an important role to play.

The Senator referred to the site in Ballina and I will follow up on that for her. There are other counties which have sites that are earmarked for technological companies and they have the services provided and planning permission. I was recently in Ballinasloe, which is not too far from Mayo, and it also has a significant park. Obviously, the focus for IDA Ireland is to ensure it can maximise the investment around the country, particularly in those parks. As I said in my introduction, in the end companies go where they want their workforce to be located. They like to establish operations near universities and colleges, public transport, good road networks and so on. To be fair, the road network in Mayo is quite good, although I can see where the Senator is coming from in this regard.

The Senator mentioned the Galway-Mayo telecoms duct which runs 132 km between Ballymoneen in Galway to Bellanaboy in Mayo, adjacent to the gas pipeline. It is an important project, particularly in the area of broadband infrastructure for the west. The infrastructure currently provides a critical link between data centres and several multinational companies in Ireland, and the transatlantic fibre-optic cable at Killala is providing diversity and resilience to international connectivity, which is extremely important. We are looking at a situation where the future of work is changing and there is a huge emphasis on people working from home and having good connectivity and good broadband.

I will convey the Senator's concerns regarding the figures she mentioned. It is not always possible to get FDI into smaller areas, as she acknowledges, and that is something we are very conscious of. This is why we put a particular emphasis on the LEOs to ensure we can encourage start-ups, innovation and creativity. Often, those two, three, four, five or six jobs grow and grow, which is why we are encouraging this type of activity and giving the necessary funding and grant-aid to those companies. I will take on board the Senator's concerns. Balanced regional development is very much part of the Project Ireland 2040 plan, as well as ensuring the regions grow as much as the larger urban areas.If the Senator looks at last year's statistics in respect of Enterprise Ireland, she will see that 65% of the 10,000 jobs it created were outside the greater Dublin area. The Senator also mentioned IDA Ireland and 45% of those jobs were created outside the greater Dublin area. The focus and emphasis are there to ensure that the regions are heard. When good public representatives like the Senator are raising these issues in the Upper House, it is a good sign that things will happen in the future. The Senator can be sure they are very much in my mind and that of the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.