Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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64. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the way the Action Plan for Jobs will specifically target growth in County Donegal, designated as part of the Border region; when specific action and job creation targets for the region will be published by the Government; the way he will ensure that equal and proportional distribution of resources and funding will be carried out across all regions in the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7305/15]

Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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67. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if local communities will be considered key stakeholders, and therefore consulted, during the drafting of the regional enterprise strategy for the Border region, which includes County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7308/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 64 and 67 together.

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 why the Government is placing an increased emphasis on supporting jobs growth in the regions.

The 2015 Action Plan for Jobs includes a commitment develop and publish a suite of Regional Enterprise Strategies based on the strengths of each region, in consultation with key stakeholders. Last week, the Government announced details of the Action Plan for Jobs-Regional initiative which will seek to maximise the strengths and assets of each region to support enterprise growth and job creation.

My objective is that six Regional Action Plans, including one for the Border region, will be launched by July, with two remaining Strategies in development at that stage. The Regional Action Plans will identify measures that can be taken to help each region to realise its economic potential, with a view to increasing the number of people at work in the region. Consultation with local stakeholders will be an essential part of the process of developing the Regional Action Plans. In that context, local entrepreneurs and business people will have an opportunity to provide inputs to the Action Plan for Jobs for the Border region.

In launching the Action Plan for Jobs-Regional initiative last week, I announced that new funding of up to €250 million will be made available over the next five years to support job creation through enterprise growth in the regions. This includes €150 million for an IDA property investment programme to attract foreign direct investment into the regions, and €100 million to Enterprise Ireland to support indigenous enterprises to start up, grow and export.

These funds will be distributed through three new competitive calls which will be announced by Enterprise Ireland over the coming months. The first of these calls will focus on community-driven enterprise initiatives, the second will focus on new ideas emerging from the Local Enterprise Offices and a third, broader, competitive regional call will support significant projects or initiatives to improve enterprise capability in the region. Funding will be allocated to the best ideas across the regions. Tangible jobs impact, enterprise start-up and scaling are amongst the criteria against which applications will be measured. Innovative collaborations among different regional agencies or stakeholders will also be favourably weighted.