Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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23. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 9 of 8 December 2016, if she will provide a breakdown by county of the 13,000 jobs created in the south east since the start of 2015; if she is satisfied with job creation efforts by her Department in County Wexford to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6351/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As a result of a focused collaborative approach and a range of reforms delivered in the region over recent years, the unemployment rate in the South East has fallen from a peak of 20.1% in 2012 to the current rate of 10.4%. There are 215,000 people now at work in the South East.

The source of the employment data referred to in the Deputy’s question is the Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) undertaken by the CSO at regional level, and is not available at county level.

However, CSO’s monthly Live Register figures show that the numbers on the Live Register in County Wexford have fallen by over 1,800 in the past year.

Enterprise Ireland companies currently support 20,450 jobs in the South East region, 4,816 of which are based in Wexford. This is an increase of 2,140 since end-2014 for the region, and an increase of 332 for Wexford. Enterprise Ireland job announcements in 2016 in the South East included CoreHR, Netwatch, and Packaging Hub.

Wexford LEO has supported gross job gains in 2015 of 326 in its client companies. 2016 data are not yet available.

Wexford is home to 17 existing IDA Ireland clients who between them employ almost 2,630 people in a range of manufacturing and service operations. Since end 2014, IDA-supported companies have seen a net increase of 127 jobs in Wexford.

Earlier this week I was pleased to make two significant job announcements in the region. 140 jobs will be created in Kilkenny arising from  new animation projects involving Mercury Filmworks of Canada and local studio Cartoon Saloon, while Red Hat, the world’s leading provider of open source solutions, will create up to 60 jobs in Waterford.