John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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Question 182: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of job losses in Waterford City and County in each of the years 2004 to date in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27800/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Agency employment data does not distinguish between Waterford (city and county) and as data is collated on an annual basis, no data is yet available for 2007. The table below sets out the position in relation to the number of full time job gains and job losses in firms assisted by the enterprise development agencies under the aegis of my department (Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland) for Waterford in each of the years between 2004 and 2006. Over the period, there was a net decrease of 556 in the numbers employed in enterprise agency assisted companies. It is notable however that after two challenging years 2006 saw a marked turnaround with a net gain of 374 jobs. In the same period 124 net jobs were created in enterprises assisted by Waterford City and County Enterprise Boards.

In line with the National Spatial Strategy, IDA Ireland is focussed on advancing the economic development of the South East region primarily through the Gateway of Waterford City, the hub towns of Wexford and Kilkenny and the other key centres of Carlow and Clonmel. IDA Ireland is actively engaged with the existing IDA client base in Co. Waterford to encourage their transition to continually higher value activities and to promote further investment in Ireland.

Waterford has a key strength in engineering, in both indigenous and overseas sectors. In more recent years however, this has been giving way to newer, more advanced manufacturing, particularly in the Life Sciences sector and also to International & Financial Services activities. When marketing County Waterford for new foreign direct investment, IDA Ireland is focussed on attracting overseas companies in the services and knowledge-based industries, including advanced manufacturing.

Key interventions in support of the above efforts in recent years have been the development of the Waterford Business & Technology Park, Dungarvan Business Park and a 55 hectare Greenfield site in Belview, specifically targeted for larger scale utility intensive overseas investments. A further 20 hectare site adjacent to the Genzyme facility on the Kilmeaden road in Waterford City is also available for Greenfield investment.

In September 2007, I announced that Genzyme Corp — one of the world's largest biotechnology companies — is to invest up to a potential of €20m, with the support of IDA Ireland, to create additional product and process development facilities at its manufacturing campus in Waterford where more than 380 people currently work. The investment will potentially create an additional 18 high level research and development (R&D) positions within three years.

Enterprise Ireland's activities are focussed on the creation of new jobs through supporting entrepreneurs in manufacturing and internationally traded services companies who are setting up new High Potential Start-Up Companies or expanding existing companies. Enterprise Ireland is represented on an inter agency working group set up by Waterford County Manager to foster economic development in the area. In April 2007, I launched a new €21m Community Enterprise scheme which is being managed by Enterprise Ireland and will target funding at those communities where job losses have been most acute and where there is an obvious need for initiatives of this type. Seven of these Community Enterprise Centres are located in Waterford namely Waterford City, Cappoquin, Dunhill, Lismore, Portlaw, Tallow and Dungarvan.

The enterprise agencies continue to work closely with Third Level educational institutes in the region and FÁS so that the skill sets necessary to attract or create high value add employment to the county are being developed. Waterford Institute of Technology will play an ever-increasing role in the attraction and maintenance of overseas companies in the county.

In addition the Waterford County and City Enterprise Boards provide assistance to small enterprises employing less than 10 people by providing employment and capital grants as well as grants for feasibility studies. The Boards provide soft supports such as business advice, management and E-commerce training.