Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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545. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her attention has been drawn to the urgent need to provide additional job opportunities throughout counties Cavan and Monaghan; the proposals her Department and the State's industrial promotion agencies have to assist in job creation and in the maintenance of existing employment; if she will direct the agencies to implement specific strategies for areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan which will be impacted adversely by the British decision to leave the European Union; if her attention has further been drawn to the difficulties facing many local small, medium and large enterprises that are heavily reliant on the Northern Ireland and British market, taking into account currency fluctuations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40994/16]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The North East/North West (NE/NW) Action Plan for Jobs is stimulating job creation across the region, including counties Cavan and Monaghan, 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 regional enterprise projects.

The core objective of the NE/NW Action Plan is to have a further 28,000 at work in the region by 2020. We are aiming to ensure the unemployment rate is within the 1% of the State average.

The first progress report on the implementation of the Region’s Action Plan up to end-June 2016 will be published shortly and will show good progress being made.

6,200 jobs were created in the Border region from Q1 2015 to Q2 2016, representing good progress towards the 28,000 target of 2020.

While still above the State average, the unemployment rate in the region has fallen from a peak of 17.8% in Q3 2012 to the current rate of 9.2%. In addition, the number of persons on the Live Register in November in Counties Cavan and Monaghan has fallen by 835 and 780 respectively in the past year and now stands at 4,538 for County Cavan and 3,656 for County Monaghan.

IDA, Enterprise Ireland (EI), and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are making a significant contribution to employment in both counties.

The Cavan and Monaghan LEOs are fully engaged in supporting the micro-enterprise and small business sectors in their areas to create and sustain jobs. In 2015, a total of 223 new jobs were created by micro-enterprises that had been supported by LEO Cavan and 153 new jobs were created by micro-enterprises that had been supported by LEO Monaghan.

In 2015 EI clients supported 4,760 jobs in Monaghan and 4,911 jobs in Cavan. The Agency supports approximately 200 companies in Cavan and Monaghan and in 2015, payments of €6,058,747 were made by EI to companies in these two counties.

IDA is committed to targeting a minimum 30% to 40% increase in the number of investments for the region to 2019. There are currently 33 multinational companies employing 4,556 on the North East (Louth, Cavan and Monaghan).

I am continuing to focus on developments in the fallout from Brexit and am deeply engaged with EI and IDA Ireland regarding the impacts being felt by client companies.

I have ongoing communication with these Agencies through my chairing of the High level Group of Senior Managers which includes the CEOs of the Agencies. In addition, my officials are in daily contact with the Agencies and keep me informed of any issues arising.

I am monitoring the export and trading environment on an ongoing basis and have met with companies and other stakeholders from across the country to help inform our response. I will continue to meet with companies over the coming months.

I am very conscious of the challenges that may be faced by companies operating in close proximity to the border. EI is working with its clients, looking at the individual challenges faced by clients on a company by company basis in every county in Ireland and on a sectoral level as some sectors are more exposed than others.

I would urge any businesses that are experiencing difficulties to visit one of their Local Enterprise Offices nationwide, or to contact Enterprise Ireland, for advice and support.