Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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210. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she has identified any infrastructural deficits in various areas throughout the country which may impede industrial expansion and job creation; her specific proposals to address these issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33194/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The future resilience of our economy will rely on the ability of our enterprises to compete effectively in international markets, to anticipate and respond to a changing global environment, and to anticipate and respond to customer demands for new products, services and solutions. Enterprise 2025 set out an ambitious strategy, with the objective of delivering growth that is sustainable, that is led by strong export performance and that is underpinned by innovation, productivity and competitiveness.

Continued investment in competitively priced world class infrastructures, including energy, water, waste, and transport, is crucial to the delivery of our ambition for job creation and growth throughout our regions. Inadequate investment can dampen productivity growth, increase costs and limit regional and sector opportunities for indigenous enterprise development and for FDI. However, investment in infrastructures throughout the country has suffered during the economic downturn and needs to be redressed.

The reality is that we operate within EU fiscal rules and macro-economic stability remains key. Nevertheless and notwithstanding the welcome additional commitment to capital investment in Budget 2017, planned investment over the immediate term remains lower than we would like. In this context, our priorities must focus on the needs of the productive enterprise sector, to:

-protect prior investment in infrastructure (maintenance; asset renewal);

-address infrastructure bottlenecks which hinder productive activity;

-minimise the likelihood of new bottlenecks emerging; and

-provide additional infrastructure capacity and/or improved services in areas of likely economic development.

Taken together, this will help unlock the potential of the regions throughout Ireland .

My Department plays a key role in advocating on behalf of enterprise to ensure that enterprise infrastructure needs are identified and investment prioritised. My Departments and its agencies are continually engaged with relevant stakeholders on the particular infrastructure needs required to support enterprise development and job creation – both nationally and through mechanisms such as the Regional Action Plans for Jobs. The stakeholders include other Government Departments with direct responsibility, regulatory bodies and public and private infrastructure providers. In addition, I am a member of the Economic Infrastructure and Climate Change Cabinet Committee. Officials from my Department are members of the relevant Inter-departmental Committees; on the Interdepartmental Steering Group for the National Planning Framework and its Economic and Demographic technical group.

I will continue to work with Ministerial colleagues to ensure we put in place the right policy and regulatory framework to meet the future infrastructure needs of a growing economy.