Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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86. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if the new investment aid status for County Kerry has been availed of by any company, since becoming available on 1 July 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19038/15]

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 European 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 comes 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.

The Regional Aid Map changes which came into effect on 1 July 2014 impact on Capital and Employment support. Since July 2014, four Enterprise Ireland companies have been approved Regional Aid support, in Kerry, amounting to €5,327,740 through both Capital and Employment support grants.

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.