Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 352: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the significant changes which have been implemented by his Department to date in 2005 in delivering the national spatial strategy; and the costs, benefits and savings that have accrued. [34080/05]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The national spatial strategy is a framework designed to re-orientate the balance of development across the country and in this regard it is not possible to quantify costs, benefits or savings that have accrued to date other than to look at the spread of investment and job creation in the regions. Redirecting the established force of development and investment preferences is not a straightforward issue, nor one that can be achieved simply by Government edict and completed in a short timeframe. Successful development of the gateway and hub locations is crucial to providing each region with the locations of scale that will possess the population, skills base, business services, infrastructure and existing enterprise base necessary to attract and win new or additional investments against a background of strong competition from other locations, both nationally and internationally.

In recognition of the critical importance of the gateways as key drivers to stimulating regional growth, the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government and Forfás are undertaking a joint study on gateway development. The key objective of the study is to provide a significant step forward in the implementation of the national spatial strategy. The report, to be finalised by end 2005, will seek to identify investment priorities that are critical to unlocking the potential of the gateway and its hinterland and also identify what needs to be done differently, at both national and local levels, to accelerate gateway development.

Operational responsibility for job creation and investment on a regional basis is a matter for the industrial development agencies. The national spatial strategy provides a framework for IDA Ireland, working in partnership with a range of organizations at local level, which will ensure that key locations have the appropriate facilities to attract new investments. The creation of magnets of attraction will facilitate the successful marketing of individual regions for new overseas investments or expansions to existing operations. These companies bring high wage jobs to individual areas and also have knock-on benefits in other sectors, thus creating further investment and employment opportunities for local people in the immediate and surrounding areas.

Furthermore, IDA Ireland is designing its itineraries around regional locations, providing reduced or zero grant assistance for investments in Dublin and leveraging the higher grant rate permitted in regions outside Dublin, where possible, to encourage more foreign direct investment to areas which are traditionally more difficult to market. In 2004 some 41% of all new greenfield jobs were located in the BMW region compared to approximately 25% in 1999.

Enterprise Ireland's policy objectives for balanced regional development are reflected in the structure of its financial offer to clients, which reflects preferential bias for companies located outside of the Dublin and mid-eastern region. Over the past five years new job gains associated with Enterprise Ireland clients has shown strong growth in the regions. In 2004, 68% of employment gains were in client companies located in all regions outside of Dublin, compared with 54% in 2000. This growth is partly attributable to significant investment in supporting new high potential start-up companies and facilitating the development of Irish companies through investments in research and development, productivity improvements and management and staff training.

I am confident that the strategies and policies being pursued by the development agencies, together with the ongoing commitment of the Government to regional development will bear fruit in terms of additional sustainable investment and jobs across the regions.