Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein)
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524. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her attention has been drawn to the number of jobs that were delivered in the Kildare South and Kildare North constituencies in 2016. [40564/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Statistics on total numbers of jobs created are collected by the CSO at a national and regional level, and on a quarterly basis. The most up-to-date CSO figures available show that 3,700 jobs were created across the Mid East region (Kildare, Meath and Wicklow) from end 2015 to end September 2016 and the unemployment rate within the region, at 6.9% at end September 2016, was also significantly below the State average of 8%.

In addition, the number of persons on the Live Register in November in County Kildare has fallen by 2,358 since January 2016 and now stands at 11,456.

The Regional Action Plan for Jobs initiative is working to stimulate job creation across the country, including in the Mid East, by facilitating collaborative initiatives between the public and private sector, and through the provision of new competitive funds, awarded through Enterprise Ireland to support the best regional enterprise projects. Since the start of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs process in 2015, 4,900 jobs have been created in the Mid East region.

IDA, Enterprise Ireland, and the Local Enterprise Offices are also making a significant contribution to employment in all counties. However, official employment figures in respect of Agency supported jobs are drawn from employment surveys, conducted on an annual basis. It is therefore not possible to provide job numbers for 2016 until early 2017 when these surveys have been completed.

In 2015, a total of 222 new jobs were created by micro-enterprises that had been supported by the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Kildare. 679 jobs were also created by IDA Ireland clients in Kildare. Of the three counties in the Mid East, Kildare has the largest number of people working in IDA client companies; comprising 22 companies employing 9,998 people . Enterprise Ireland clients created 724 jobs; meaning a total of 8,308 people were employed in Enterprise Ireland client companies in Kildare in 2015.

These figures are all collected for Kildare as a whole and do not distinguish between the North and South of the county.