James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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20. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to address the high unemployment black spots in the south-eastern region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30463/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Government policy to reduce unemployment is two-fold.  First, through policies set out in the national Action Plan for Jobs, to create an environment in which business can succeed and create jobs and second, through Pathways to work to ensure that as many of the new jobs and other vacancies that arise in our economy are filled by people taken from the Live Register.

The South East Action Plan for Jobs is another key Government response to supporting employment growth in the South East region.

The core objective of the Plan is to see a further 25,000 at work in the region by 2020 and to reduce the unemployment rate to within 1 percentage point of the State average.

The second progress report on the implementation of the Action Plan has just been published and shows that good progress continues to be made in implementing the actions. Almost 13,000 jobs were created in the South East since the regional Action Plans for Jobs initiative was launched in January 2015.

According to the CSO Quarterly National Household Survey, in Q1 2015 the unemployment rate in the South East was 12.8%. At Q1 2017, the most recent QNHS data available shows the unemployment rate in the South East has dropped by 3.5 percentage points to 9.3%.

Enterprise Ireland companies support over 23,000 jobs across the South East. Total employment among client companies of all LEOs in the region was 6,690 at the end of 2016. The South East is also home to 72 IDA client companies who collectively employ 13,369 people.

To support regional enterprise development, additional funding of up to €60m is being rolled out by Enterprise Ireland over the next 4 years to support the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level.

In addition, additional funding of €150m is being made available to the IDA to support its Regional Property Programme and drive job creation in the multi-national sector.

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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21. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans for specific additional measures to assist job creation in areas such as counties Cavan and Monaghan which will face serious challenges due to Brexit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30429/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Since the UK referendum, the State agencies under my remit - Enterprise Ireland (EI), the Local Enterprise Offices and Inter Trade Ireland - have been active in supporting companies in assessing and addressing their exposure to Brexit.

EI’s current “#Prepare for Brexit” campaign includes a Brexit Scorecard available to all companies to self-assess their preparedness for Brexit across all aspects of their business and which generates a report suggesting appropriate responses. A €5,000 ‘BePrepared’ grant is also available to clients to prepare a Brexit action plan.

Each of the Local Enterprise Offices in the border counties including Cavan and Monaghan can offer advice, training and mentoring to address Brexit challenges. Each LEO can now offer financial assistance to clients to examine export options, to improve product innovation and improve the competitiveness of their business in the face of Brexit.

My Department is providing InterTrade Ireland with additional funding this year to establish a new Brexit Advisory Service, which will provide factual advice, supports for capability building and other specialist expertise to SMEs.

For exporting companies I secured new resources, including extra staffing, for EI and the LEOs in Budget 2017 to assist businesses to maintain and grow export markets.

Based on significant analysis and stakeholder consultation, my Department is currently working on further measures targeted at the needs of companies in the wider economy around working capital and business development.

The Regional Action Plan for Jobs for the Border region contains a large number of actions aimed at strengthening the enterprise sector in the region. In particular, the new Regional Enterprise Development Fund of up to €60m was launched on 29th May. This Fund is aimed at supporting collaborative approaches to grow and sustain indigenous enterprise and jobs across the regions of Ireland.