Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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29. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the funding that will be granted by the IDA , Enterprise Ireland or other State agencies under the aegis of her Department to client supported companies in 2017; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33003/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Through Budget 2017 I have secured an Exchequer Capital allocation of €555 million for distribution across the Department’s Vote in 2017. This is the largest capital provision made to the Department over the past fifteen years. It is a 10% increase over the 2016 Revised Estimates Volume capital provision of €503 million.

This capital funding through my Department and Agencies is used to progress the jobs agenda and to further regional enterprise development and Ireland’s innovation capacity.

The funding provided through the Enterprise Agencies is a mixture of:

- Grants to, and investments in client companies,

- Research and Development grants to companies and across Ireland’s higher education institutions; and

- Infrastructure supports which are used to maintain and develop suitable property and research facilities for Irish based enterprise and scientists.

Currently the enterprise agencies are directly supporting over 411,000 jobs in Ireland across their client companies.

Allowing for the economic multiplier effect, a similar number of jobs, 400,000 plus, are indirectly being supported by the agency clients in services and sub-supply.

In recent weeks we have seen employment In Ireland continue to grow. It now exceeds 2 million people and represents the highest level of employment in Ireland since 2008. All 8 regions of the country have seen employment growth since the beginning of 2015. Recent CSO figures show that unemployment has dropped to 7.9%. The numbers unemployed have dropped to 172,900 – some 24,000 less than a year ago.

The additional €52 million in Capital funding for 2017 that I have secured is strong evidence of the Government delivering on its commitment to continue to deliver new jobs across every region. This additional 10% in capital funding will help us deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to create an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020 of which 135,000 are targeted for the regions.

For the Deputy’s information the indicative capital allocations across the Department’s Agencies for 2017 are as follows:

IDA Ireland.

- €137 million in 2017

- Up €25 million from its €112 million base this year.

- Representing a 22% increase over 2016 base.

Enterprise Ireland

- €185 million in 2017

- Up €11.4 million from 2016 base figure.

- Representing a 6.5% increase over 2016 base.

Local Enterprise Offices

- €22.5 million in 2017

- Up €4 million from 2016 base figure.

- Representing a 21% increase over 2016 base.

Science Foundation Ireland

- €162.5 million in 2017

- Up €5.5 million from 2016 base figure

- Representing a 3.5% increase over 2016 base.

The Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions

- €14.22 million in 2017

- Up €4.2 million from 2016 base figure

- Representing a 41% increase over 2016 base.

The remaining €33 million in capital funding for 2017 will be distributed across other Agencies and programmes that span:

- InterTrade Ireland – approximately €5.5 million

- Tyndall National Institute – €4.5 million

- Ireland’s membership of, and participation in, International Research Organisations - approximately €19.5 million.

- The InterReg programme (a North/South collaborative programme) – approximately €3 million.

- The Credit Guarantee Scheme - €0.5 million.

- National Standards Authority of Ireland - €0.5 million.

The definitive distribution of the Department’s 2017 capital allocation will be determined through the 2017 Revised Estimates Volume (REV) process in the weeks ahead. It is expected that the 2017 Revised Estimates Volume will be published by my colleague, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform in early December.