Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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575. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the estimated number of jobs projected to be created here, particularly in counties Sligo and Leitrim, for the next five year period; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14983/17]

Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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576. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she plans to distribute jobs throughout the economy on a regional basis to facilitate a balanced growth throughout the country, particularly in counties Sligo and Leitrim; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14984/17]

Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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577. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she has identified job creation requirements throughout Ireland, particularly in counties Sligo and Leitrim, notwithstanding the commitments already in place; the locations in which further enhancement is required; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14985/17]

Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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578. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she has identified the optimum number of jobs likely to be created or in need of creation throughout the regions outside of the greater Dublin area, particularly in Connacht and counties Sligo and Leitrim, in the next five years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14986/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 575 to 578, inclusive, together. 

The Action Plan for Jobs, one of the government’s chief instruments to support job creation, is a whole of Government, national level initiative aimed at creating the optimum conditions for private sector and export led job creation. The plan does not deal with actions on a county by county basis but does contain a strong focus on developing the regions.

Its objectives include the creation of an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020, including 135,000 outside of Dublin; reduction of the State unemployment rate to 6%; and at a regional level, having an additional 10% to 15% at work in each region, and closing their unemployment rates to within one percentage point of the State average.

Action Plan for Jobs 2017 includes a series of collaborative actions aimed at stimulating regional growth, including the progression, monitoring and support of the eight Regional Action Plans for Jobs, which aims to realise the national Action Plan’s regional employment targets.

The targets for additional jobs to be created in each of the 8 regions covered by the Regional Action Plan initiative launched in Q1 2015 are set out in the following table.  The targets for Connacht are set out in the West region, while counties Sligo and Leitrim are included in the North East/ North West region. By delivering on the full potential of the Plans, the aim is to deliver a total of 246,000 jobs by 2020.

Achieving these ambitious targets at regional level will require a renewed focus on collaborative efforts to build on regional strengths, assets and areas of competitive advantage to develop the attractive and competitive environments for business to start, grow and succeed on international markets and to attract inward investment. 

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 Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth by 2020. Sectors targeted as part of the plan include traditionally strong sectors for the region like agri-food, manufacturing/engineering and tourism.

There has been a substantial improvement in the North East and North West regions 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.

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 6.7%.

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

There are currently 27 multinational companies employing over 2,700 people in counties Sligo and Leitrim.

EI companies currently support 1,546 and 922 jobs in Sligo and Leitrim respectively. EI job announcements in 2016 in the North West included LotusWorks (50 jobs in Sligo) and VistaMed (200 jobs in Leitrim).

The Sligo and Leitrim LEOs are fully engaged in supporting the micro-enterprise and small business sectors in their areas to create and sustain jobs. In 2016, the number of jobs that were created by micro-enterprises that had been supported by LEO Sligo and LEO Leitrim were 38 and 44 respectively.

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.

With 45,000 jobs created in 2015, this leaves 200,000 to be achieved by end 2020, as per the Programme for Government.