Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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276. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation when it is planned to launch the creating competitive regions strategies; and if, with particular reference to the west of Ireland, there has been stakeholder consultation and engagement in creating the strategy. [1756/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The aim of the Action Plan for Jobs is to help enterprises to create employment in all regions of the country. While employment has increased nationally by approximately 80,000 since the start of the Action Plan process in 2012, not all regions are yet fully experiencing the benefits of economic recovery. The Unemployment Rate for the Midlands and South East regions, for example, stand at 14.5% and 13.7% respectively. This compares to the national average of 11.1% in the latest Quarterly National Household Survey published by the Central Statistics Office.

The 2014 Action Plan for Jobs contained a number of commitments to support competitive regions, including the development a framework for Regional Enterprise Strategies. This framework, which has been developed by my Department, provides a model which will be used to support a co-ordinated approach to maximise the jobs potential of each region in the country.

Over the past number of months, officials from Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and my Department have been involved in a series of engagements with the main stakeholder groups in the Midlands to discuss the strengths and opportunities that can be built upon to support enterprise and jobs growth in that region. This consultation process has provided valuable input to the drafting of a Regional Enterprise Strategy for the Midlands which I aim to publish over the coming weeks. Similar strategies for the other regions will be commenced over the course of the year, on a phased basis.

I have previously indicated that the next Regional Enterprise Strategy to be developed after the Midlands will cover the South East region. The order in which subsequent Regional Enterprise Strategies are to be completed has not yet been finalised, but the decision will be informed by factors such as regional unemployment levels.

Consultation with regional stakeholders will be a key component of the development of the Enterprise Strategies for each region, including the West of Ireland.