Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

300. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the solutions the Government and its agencies have in place to tackle unemployment in rural Ireland in view of the delay in awarding of contracts under the national broadband plan. [14528/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Irish economy has come through an extraordinary period over the last ten years. Our enterprise base is more competitive, export oriented and more innovative. Jobs are being created by enterprises in every region and every sector in the country. The Action Plan for Jobs process, which I and my Department co-ordinate across Government, has been very successful.

Almost 206,000 more people are at work since the first Plan was launched in 2012 - that is an average of just under 40,000 per annum over the last five years. We want to add up to 45,000 more jobs in 2017.

As Minister, I want two of every three jobs created in the regions. I will shortly announce a competitive call for innovative proposals to boost regional growth, with funding of up to €60 million.

We will promote the development of a network of eHubs across the regions, beginning with an audit of all existing and potential hubs.

EI’s target is to add 15,000 gross new jobs in 2017, support 250 large scale investments, win an extra 1,000 sales contracts and increase exports to €23 billion.

The Local Enterprise Offices support a net increase in employment of over 3,800 in 2016 and we are targeting a similar increase in 2017.

We are also developing an integrated communications plan to raise awareness of the range of enterprise supports available and how to access them.

We also want to ensure that all sections of the workforce contribute to their full potential and as Minister, I am placing an emphasis on female participation and female entrepreneurship in particular. We are focusing on the older workers in the labour market through a combination of measures.  This includes a new draft Code of Practice to set out best practice in managing the engagement between employers and employees in the run up to retirement and measures to support senior entrepreneurship.

We will launch a toolkit for employers and employees to engage in workplace innovation and roll out a pilot programme.

We will harness the creativity of our citizens to address these challenges and opportunities. Creativity and our strength in design can give us a competitive advantage in all sectors of the economy from manufacturing to retail.

Maximising the retail potential of our town centres is vital and we are committed to developing a template for retail development in our towns.

I am also focusing on new opportunities arising from the digitalisation of the economy and society. We will develop a whole of Government approach to realise the digital economy opportunities across all sectors, including a stakeholder summit in the first quarter.

The National Broadband Plan (NBP), which is being delivered by my colleague Minister Naughten, aims to deliver high speed broadband services to every city, town, village and individual premises in Ireland. The Programme for Government commits to the delivery of the NBP as a matter of priority.  This is being achieved through a combination of commercial investment by the telecommunications sector and a State intervention in those areas where commercial investment has not been fully demonstrated. 

There has been significant progress in relation to broadband roll out so that today, approximately 1.4m or 61% of premises in Ireland can get high speed broadband of a minimum of 30 Megabits per second. The NBP has been a catalyst in encouraging investment by the telecoms sector, which is continuing to expand this footprint.

Minister Naughten has informed me that a formal procurement process is in train to select a company or companies who will roll-out a new high speed broadband network within the State Intervention Area. The procurement process is being intensively managed, to ensure an outcome that delivers a future-proofed network that serves homes and businesses across Ireland, for at least 25 years. The timeframe for the procurement continues to be dependent on a range of factors including the complexities that may be encountered by the procurement team and bidders, during the procurement process.

Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

301. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she is working to attract jobs and SMEs in the north west, thereby encouraging an overall balanced economy with consequent economic benefits for Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14529/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Regional Action Plans for Jobs are aimed at maximising the strengths and assets of each region, to support enterprise growth and job creation.

The key strength of the stakeholders like the local authorities, the educational bodies, the enterprise development agencies and the private sector all working collaboratively to maximise opportunities, means that every county will benefit under this initiative.

The North East/North West Regional Action Plan for Jobs is stimulating job creation across the region, by facilitating collaborative initiatives between the public and private sector, and through the provision of new competitive funds awarded through Enterprise Ireland, to support regional enterprise projects.

The North East/North West Plan aims to support the creation of 28,000 jobs across Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan, and Louth by 2020.

Sectors targeted as part of the plan include traditionally strong sectors for the region like agrifood, manufacturing/engineering and tourism, including active promotion of the tourism potential of the Lakelands Region, which includes Cavan and Monaghan.

There has been a substantial improvement in the North East/North West region since the commencement of the National Action Plan for Jobs in 2012, with an additional 23,000 in employment in Q4 2016 compared to Q1 2012. Moreover, there are now almost 6,800 more people in work in the region since the launch of the Regional Action Plan initiative in Q1 2015.

The unemployment rate in the region has fallen from 10.2% in Q1 2015 to 8.0% at present, compared to the national rate of 6%.

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

The three North West counties are home to 39 existing IDA Ireland clients who between them employ 5,742 people in a range of manufacturing and service operations. Since end-2014, IDA supported companies have seen a net increase of 505 jobs in the North West.

EI companies currently support 6,049 jobs in the North West counties. EI job announcements in 2016 in the North West included LotusWorks (50 jobs in Sligo) and VistaMed (200 jobs in Leitrim).

The North West LEOs are fully engaged in supporting the micro-enterprise and small business sectors in their areas to create and sustain jobs. The three LEOs have supported gross job gains of 1,281 in its client companies in the past 2 years.

My Department is providing additional funds through the agencies out to 2020. Together with Enterprise Ireland, I am currently finalising plans for a regional initiative of up to €60m to support collaborative approaches to grow and sustain jobs across the regions, and to encourage each county to reach its full potential.