Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if any company has availed of Kerry’s improved investment aid status since 1 July 2014; if so, if he will provide details regarding the amount of investment involved and the number of jobs created as a result; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1969/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Regional Aid Guidelines enable the State to grant State Aid, at enhanced rates, to businesses in order to support new investment and new employment in productive projects in Ireland's most disadvantaged regions. This helps the convergence of these regions with the more advantaged regions of the Union. Regional Aid is also provided under Schemes for tourism grants, marine tourism, urban and rural renewal and other tax-based development schemes. All such aid come from the Exchequer, i.e. there is no EU or other external funding. The 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines entered into force on 1 July 2014. Areas accounting for 51.28% of Ireland’s population are now eligible for assistance under the Regional Aid Guidelines. This represents a substantial increase from the 25% originally proposed by the Commission, and an increase from the 50% under the 2007-2013 Map. This means that the full range of Regional Aid assistance options are now available in Kerry.

The Guidelines specify the grant aid rates for Regional Aid projects. The Deputy is correct in acknowledging an improvement in the aid rate applicable for eligible projects in Kerry. This specifically relates to the aid rate for large companies, which has increased from 0% to 10% for the period 2014-2020. The Regional aid rates for Kerry and other areas designated under the 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines are a maximum of 30% for small and micro enterprises, 20% for medium-sized enterprises and 10% for large enterprises.

Since 1 July 2014, Enterprise Ireland has not to date, approved Regional Aid to any large company in Kerry. However the Agency is working proactively with large clients as well as SME clients in Kerry to identify suitable growth projects for investment. In the six months since 1 July 2014, Enterprise Ireland approved more than €5.7 million to companies in Kerry for start-up, research and development, and expansion projects. All projects are subject to assessment in terms of commercial, technical and market due diligence and should represent value for money in terms of the State’s investment.

During 2014, there were no public investment announcements of IDA Ireland projects for County Kerry. However, it should be noted that not all companies agree to announce their investments and as a result, this does not truly reflect the level of investments won or the performance of FDI in a county in a particular year. In this respect, IDA Ireland clients had a very positive employment performance in County Kerry with a net increase of 236 jobs in 2014, compared with 2013.

Kerry Local Enterprise Office continues to work with its micro enterprise client base in Kerry.