Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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151. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation to detail the number of sponsored site visits by enterprise agencies to counties Cavan and Monaghan in each of the past seven years by each of the agencies; the number of these that were successful; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5210/15]

Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein)
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152. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide, in tabular form, the number of jobs created in each of the past seven years in enterprise agency-supported companies in counties Cavan and Monaghan; the number of jobs lost in each of the past seven years in enterprise agency-supported companies in counties Cavan and Monaghan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5211/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 151 and 152 together.

I am informed by IDA Ireland that in the period 2008 to 2014 inclusive, there were a total of 12 IDA Ireland-sponsored site visits by potential investors to counties Cavan and Monaghan. The number of such visits to each county in each year are set out in the following tabular statement A. Enterprise Ireland’s core focus is supporting the internationalisation of indigenous companies and the Agency does not arrange site visits of a type similar to IDA Ireland.

I understand from IDA Ireland that investments resulted from some of these visits, but for reasons of client confidentiality and commercial sensitivity, the Agency does not comment publicly on the success rate of such site visits.

Details of the gross jobs gains and losses in IDA Ireland client companies in Counties Cavan and Monaghan in each year from 2008 to 2014, inclusive, are set out in the following tabular statement B. The number of permanent full time jobs gained and lost in Enterprise Ireland client companies, in each of those years are shown in the attached tabular statement C.

As the Deputy is aware, the Action Plan for Jobs 2015 was launched on Thursday last, 29^thJanuary. This is the fourth annual plan in a multi-year process, which started in 2012. When the First Action Plan for Jobs was launched, unemployment stood at 15.1%. Today it stands at 10.6% and we are on track to exceed our target of 100,000 additional jobs by 2016. We are now setting a goal to bring employment to 2.1 million by 2018 – 2 years ahead of our original target.

In the CSO Quarterly National Household Survey for Q3 2014, unemployment continued to fall in the Border Region (which includes Monaghan and Cavan). The current unemployment rate in the Border Region is 11.7% (down from 17.7% in Q3 2012) a remarkable improvement over the last 2 years. 18,000 extra people are at work in the region over that period.

Meanwhile, I am working with IDA and Enterprise Ireland to get certain projects across the line in the Cavan – Monaghan area which will deliver investment and jobs.

Table A

IDA Ireland-sponsoredSite Visits Cavan/Monaghan (2008-2014):