Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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600. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she has identified infrastructural deficits in various areas throughout the country which might impede industrial expansion and job creation; her plans to address these issues; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23290/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Continued investment in competitively priced world class infrastructures, including energy, water, waste, telecoms, and transport, is crucial to the delivery of our ambition for job creation and growth throughout our regions.

Inadequate investment can dampen productivity growth, increase costs and limit opportunities for indigenous enterprise and for FDI. However, investment in infrastructure throughout the country suffered during the economic downturn and this needs to be redressed.

My Department plays a key role by advocating on behalf of enterprise to ensure that enterprise infrastructure needs are identified and investment prioritised. This is especially true at present as the mid-term review of the public capital programme and the development of the new National Planning Framework (NPF) are underway.

My Department and its agencies engage with stakeholders regularly on specific infrastructures required to support enterprise and jobs - both nationally and through mechanisms such as the Regional Action Plans for Jobs.

We engage with other Government Departments with direct responsibility for addressing infrastructural deficits, regulatory bodies, and public and private infrastructure providers.

In addition, I am a member of the Economic Infrastructure and Climate Action Cabinet Committee. Officials from my Department are members of the relevant Interdepartmental Committees; on the Interdepartmental Steering Group for the NPF, and we have made detailed submissions to both the capital review and NPF processes.

I will continue to work with Ministerial colleagues to ensure we put in place the right policy and regulatory framework to meet the future infrastructure needs of a growing economy.