Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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26. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the action he is taking to address the decline in employment in the west and south-west regions. [5847/15]

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.

That is the reason why the 2015 Action Plan for Jobs which was published on 29th January includes a commitment to develop and publish a suite of Regional Enterprise Strategies to support enterprise growth and job creation in every region of the country. These Strategies will include a series of specific actions to be delivered by a range of public bodies and local stakeholders, building on the particular strengths and assets of each region.

The Deputy will be aware that in April last year, my Department reformed the system for delivery of State supports to micro and small enterprises. The 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are a core instrument of local enterprise support and development for micro and small enterprises, and are the first stop shop through which all information on State supports for small and micro-businesses can be accessed.

One of the key elements arising from the reform is the requirement for each LEO to prepare an annual Local Enterprise Development Plan. These plans will include targets for key activities, initiatives to support enterprise and job creation in each area, as well as wider economic impacts such as exports, mentoring, training and enterprise promotion. It is expected that this reform will continue the momentum for entrepreneurship and sustained growth in job creation in each county and region across the country.

In relation to Enterprise Ireland, the agency’s client companies have continued to generate increased jobs growth, recording the highest overall rise in employment levels in the last decade, with 8,476 net new jobs at the end of 2014. EI clients now provide employment for 180,072 people, comprising 156,202 full-time and 23,870 part-time workers across all regions. These employment levels are the highest recorded by indigenous companies in the last decade. As a consequence, EI companies are responsible for more than 300,000 (direct and indirect) jobs throughout the regions of Ireland. Specifically, in 2014, there was a net gain of 1,550 EI supported jobs in County Cork and a net gain of 79 EI supported jobs in County Kerry. For Counties Galway, Mayo and Roscommon, there was a net gain of 181 jobs, 73 jobs and 96 jobs respectively.

According to the 2014 Annual Employment Survey, there has been no decline in IDA Ireland client employment in the West (Galway, Mayo) or South West (Cork, Kerry) Regions. There are 63 IDA supported companies in Galway City and County, employing 13,862 in total. In County Mayo there are 18 IDA supported companies employing 3,932 in total. In the South West, there are 158 multinational companies based in the region - 146 based in Cork and 12 in Kerry - employing a total of 30,419.

My objective is that six Regional Enterprise Strategies, including those for the West and South West regions, will be launched by July.