Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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216. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if a company (details supplied) has expressed an interest in relocating here and if County Kerry is being promoted as a suitable location; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45908/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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This company’s focus has shifted away from traditional manufacturing to being a more services and solutions based company. Following on from its voluntary redundancy programme as part of a global restructuring, the company has now consolidated its workforce in the three existing Irish sites and currently employs a total of over 2,300 staff. I was very pleased when the company announced a significant investment in one of those centre earlier this year, involving the creation of a significant number of new, specialised jobs there.

Regarding Foreign Direct Investment for Kerry generally, there are 12 IDA Ireland supported client companies, employing 1,874 people in the county and those companies have added 361 additional new jobs between 2011 – 2014 (a 24% increase), compared to 502 job losses in the period 2008 – 2010 (a 25% decrease). It should be noted that 70% of new IDA jobs come from existing client companies, not from new investments.

Marketing of any regional area, including Kerry, for Foreign Direct Investment is done through IDA Ireland’s network of overseas offices. IDA Ireland actively incentivises and encourages investors to consider a range of potential locations in Ireland and it is heartening that the number of IDA company visits to Kerry was six in the first nine months of 2015, double the number for the full year 2014. However it should be appreciated that the ultimate locations selected are decided by the companies themselves, taking into account factors they consider to be in the wider best interests of the individual company.

A boost to the county has been the reinstatement of Regional Aid for Co. Kerry under the new EU Regional Aid Guidelines (RAGs), which came into force last year. The RAGs enable the State to give 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 means that the full range of Regional Aid assistance options are available in Kerry.

In April of this year, IDA Ireland launched its new five-year strategy entitled Winning – Foreign Direct Investment 2015-2019. The strategy has a strong focus on regional development, setting forth aims and strategies to achieve a significant increase in investment going into regional locations. To support that aim, IDA Ireland is rolling out a €150 million capital investment programme to help attract more multinational jobs into each region over a 5-year period. This programme will include investments over the coming years in constructing Advanced Technology Buildings and office facilities in a number of regional locations to provide state-of-the-art property solutions for clients. Tralee is to be the site of one such Advanced Technology Building.

While all regions have grown employment since the Action Plan for Jobs was launched in 2012, some regions have grown faster than others, that is why I set about introducing an initiative for Regional Action Plans for Jobs.The purpose of this initiative is to identify a range of actions over the period 2015 - 2017 aimed at facilitating each region to achieve its economic potential and raise employment levels. Earlier this year I launched the Action Plan for Jobs for the South West(Cork and Kerry). The aim is to develop the full potential of that region for enterprise and job creation, building upon its specific local assets and areas of competitive advantage. The primary objective of this Plan is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in the region by 2020 and to ensure that the unemployment rate is within 1 per cent of the State average. Achieving this goal in the South West will contribute to the overall ambition of creating sustainable full employment in Ireland from 2018 onwards.