Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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74. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to create new jobs in County Roscommon. [22660/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The West Regional Action Plan for Jobs, which covers Roscommon, Galway and Mayo, is aimed at maximising the strengths and assets of the region, to support enterprise growth and job creation.

We are seeing progress: 11,400 jobs have been created across these counties from the start of 2015 to end 2016. In Roscommon County, live register numbers have been falling - by 30% over the past 4 years.

The region is well on the way to achieving the Plan’s target of an additional 25,000 jobs by 2020.

The Enterprise Agencies are working hard to drive job creation in Roscommon. Companies currently supported by Enterprise Ireland employ 1,688 people in the county; total employment among LEO Roscommon clients was 704 at the end of last year and there are in Roscommon 10 IDA Ireland clients who between them employ almost 985 people.

Last June, I announced €5m in competitive funding for 48 local initiatives under two Regional Competitive Calls. There were 11 projects in the West who succeeded in securing funding: 5 of these are partnerships involving organisations in Roscommon, aimed at benefitting and supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs.

My Department and Enterprise Ireland are now finalising plans for a further regional funding initiative of up to €60m to support collaborative approaches to grow jobs across the regions.