Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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344. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if her plans to encourage an even dispersal of investment throughout rural Ireland and in counties Sligo and Leitrim are on target in view of the necessity to achieve an evenly based balanced economy with equal opportunities throughout; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16918/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Regional Action Plan initiative is working to address regional and rural job creation by bringing different stakeholders in each of the 8 regions together to identify innovative and practical actions, to be taken across a range of Departments and agencies, with clear timelines for delivery over the period 2015 - 2017.  

The plans are currently being monitored and driven in each region by Implementation Committees, comprising representatives from the Enterprise Sector, as well as the Local Authorities, Enterprise Agencies, and other public bodies in the region. Collaboration between the private and the public sector has been a core element in each plan’s development, and will be central to each plan’s delivery. The first progress reports on these Plans were published in December showing that good progress is being made in their implementation. 

A key objective of the plans is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of having the unemployment rate of each region within one per cent of the national average. 

The success of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs is crucial to the Government in meeting the ambition to create an additional 200,000 jobs, 135,000 of which are outside the Dublin region, by 2020.  

Employment has been growing continuously for the past 17 quarters and over the past year employment has grown in all regions.  

The most recent figures from the CSO also show that 70% of all jobs created in the past year were created outside Dublin.

The enterprise agencies are making a significant contribution to employment in the regions - 61% of new jobs by Enterprise Ireland firms in 2016 were outside Dublin and 52% of new jobs by IDA firms in 2016 were outside Dublin.

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 agrifood, manufacturing/engineering and tourism.

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.

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.