Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 129: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her plans to make Limerick and the mid-west the priority region for foreign direct investment into Ireland; will she make available a freefone number and provide clear information on the European Globalisation Fund for redundant workers eligible for EGF support; her plans to reverse her announcement that she will not be in a position to resource the recommendations of the interim mid west jobs taskforce report including the recommendation to fast track Limerick regeneration; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43059/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The European Globalisation Fund application has been approved by the European Commission but has not yet received the required approval from the EU Council and the European Parliament. While such approval is imminent, the setting up of additional promotional and information services is not opportune at this point. However, all eligible redundant workers will be contacted directly as to the supports available under the Fund in due course.

Considerable work has already been done and structures are in place to ensure that EGF funding, when received by Ireland, can and will be effectively and efficiently spent on retraining, upskilling and providing educational and entrepreneurial supports for almost 2,500 redundant workers in the Mid West.

In the interim, FÁS and other relevant bodies such as Enterprise Ireland, City and County Enterprise Boards and the local Vocational Education Committees continue to make their full range of employment, training, guidance, information and advisory services available to the redundant workers concerned.

As regards the Mid-West Task Force, the wide range of recommendations in the report cover both local and national issues. In that respect, the Government has been responding to the economic downturn generally and has taken numerous initiatives, for example in relation to competitiveness and cost competitiveness, industrial employment stabilization, and employment activation measures. All of these measures have benefited regions affected by or threatened with job losses, including the Mid West region. Workers in the Mid West are the subject of a substantial package assembled by the Government in response to the redundancies arising from developments at Dell in Limerick and knock-on effects in other companies in the region.

In addition to the measures mentioned above, the state agencies IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Shannon Development and the County Enterprise Boards have redoubled their efforts to stimulate industrial employment in the Mid West region. For example, IDA is supporting eight industrial projects with a job potential of 1,073 which were announced by multinational companies in the Mid West in 2008 and 2009 and are now being brought into operation.

The measures mentioned above are outlined more fully in an initial response to its recommendations which I sent to the Task Force in late September. Given the wide range of recommendations in the report, I have also brought the report to the attention of my colleagues in Cabinet and it is currently being further considered in a number of other Government Departments as well as in my own Department. Ministers will, in the context of finalising their spending proposals for 2010, consider what further measures can be taken in response to the Task Force recommendations, including, as regards the Limerick Regeneration Programme.

I am very grateful for the work Mr. Brosnan and the other members of the Task Force have undertaken to date. I shall continue to keep the Task Force informed on the Government's work on matters covered in the interim recommendations. The Task Force has identified a number of issues for further study in its Final Report which I look forward to receiving early in 2010.