Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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60. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the regional job targets and unemployment rate projections under the programme for Government for 2020 and enterprise 2025, by year and by region, in tabular form; the latest figures at hand for these targets; the monitoring and reporting mechanisms in place; her job targets up to 2020 by region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31965/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Partnership Government commitment is to support the creation of 200,000 jobs by 2020, including 135,000 jobs outside of Dublin.  

Regional job creation targets have been set through the Regional Action Plan for Jobs, the primary objective of which is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim, as set out in Enterprise 2025, of having the unemployment rate of each region within one per cent of the national average.

In keeping with the medium to longer term ambition of the Regional Plans, these targets are not broken down on a yearly basis.

The published targets for jobs to be created, in addition to the latest employment data from the CSO showing job creation and current unemployment rates, for each of the 8 NUTS III regions, is laid out in the following table:

The unemployment rate has fallen in all regions in the past year while, during the same period, more than three out of every four new jobs created were outside Dublin. In 2016, almost two thirds of new jobs created by Enterprise Ireland-supported companies, and over half of those created by IDA-supported companies, were outside Dublin. Based on current data all regions are on target to meet or exceed the job targets set down in 2015 for each region to be delivered by 2020.

Each Regional Action Plan is being monitored and driven by a local Implementation Committee, 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 is central to each plan’s delivery.

Progress Reports are being published twice yearly. First Progress Reports for all plans were published in December 2016. Second progress reports from 5 of the 8 regions were published on 26 June 2017, with the remaining 3 currently being finalised.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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61. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of members of each regional action plan implementation committee, by region, in tabular form; the gender breakdown; when each committee was first established; and the number of meetings held to date in 2017 and projected for the year. [31966/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The information sought by the Deputy is set out in the following table:

Delivery of each Regional Action Plan is being overseen by an Implementation Committee, with membership drawn from industry, local authorities, Enterprise Agencies, education sector and other key stakeholders and agencies. Regional Implementation Committees meet approximately every six months to review and report on progress on the delivery of the actions in the Action Plan for Jobs for their respective region. Some of the Regional Committees have established smaller Sectoral Working Groups tasked with identifying and developing new actions to be added to the Action Plan as they emerge over the lifetime of the Plan.

Note:

At its meeting in September, 2016, the North East/North West Implementation Committee decided for practical reasons to divide the region into two formations– North East and North West – each with its own committee driving the actions. The North East and North West Committees held their first meeting under the new formations in January and February, 2017 respectively.