Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1172. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the benefits an Atlantic economic corridor would have for the north-west region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9601/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A key objective of my Department is to support enterprise development in all regions of the country in order to create jobs. Achieving this objective at regional level will require a renewed focus on building on the strengths and assets of each region to develop the attractive and competitive environments for business to start, grow and succeed on international markets and to attract inward investment. We started the process of rebuilding the capacity of the regions with the roll out of eight Regional Action Plans for Jobs during the past year.

The initiative builds on the success of the national Action Plan for Jobs, through encouraging regional stakeholders - including enterprise agencies, Local Authorities, higher education institutions, other public bodies and the private sector - to come forward with innovative ideas to boost job creation in their own region. The contributions from Local Authorities, regionally based agencies and the private sector are significant and important components of the Regional APJs, reflecting a more “bottom-up” process than the national APJ.

In this context, the Action Plan for the North East/North West identifies collaborative measures that will enable the region as a whole to realise its economic potential and create jobs.

The Action Plan was launched on 30 November last and aims to deliver 28,000 extra jobs in the counties of Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Louth, Monaghan and Cavan by 2020. Key targets in service of this overall goal are to achieve an increase of at least 25% in the number of start-ups in the region; a 25% improvement in the survival rate of new businesses; an increase in the number of IDA investments in the region by 30-40% up to 2019; and an increase of 300 to 500 in the numbers of Údarás na Gaeltachta supported jobs in the North West.

A Regional Implementation Committee has been established, composed of key stakeholders in the region who will work in concert with Enterprise Champions - nominated senior private sector representatives - to oversee and monitor progress.

The first Progress Report on the implementation of the North East/North West Action Plan for Jobs will be completed in Q3 2016.

The issue of the establishment of an Atlantic Economic Corridor is a much broader concept and not a matter, in the first instance, for my Department.