Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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79. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the plans her Department and the State's industrial promotion agencies have to assist in 2017 in job creation and in the maintenance of existing employment throughout County Cavan (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34318/17]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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80. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the plans her Department and the State's industrial promotion agencies have to assist in 2017 in job creation and in the maintenance of existing employment throughout County Monaghan (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34319/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 79 and 80 together.

The North East/North West Regional Action Plan for Jobs is a key policy response for supporting employment growth in the Border region.

The Plan is stimulating job creation across the region, including counties Cavan and Monaghan, 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 core objective of the NE/NW Action Plan is to have a further 28,000 at work in the region by 2020. We are aiming to ensure the unemployment rate is within the 1% of the State average.

Sectors targeted as part of the plan include traditionally strong sectors for the region like agri-food, manufacturing/engineering and tourism, including active promotion of the tourism potential of the Lakelands Region, which includes Cavan and Monaghan.

The Local Authorities, enterprise agencies, and other key public and private sector stakeholders in Cavan and Monaghan have been strongly involved in, and are key drivers of, the NE/NW Action Plan.

The second progress report on the implementation of the Action Plan, covering the period to end 2016, has just been published and shows that good progress being made. Over 96% of the actions due to be completed or progressed by end-2016 were on track.

4,700 jobs were created in the Border since the regional Action Plans for Jobs initiative was launched in January 2015.

The unemployment rate in the region has fallen from 10.2% in Q1 2015 to 7.5% in Q1 2017.

Live register numbers have fallen in both counties Cavan and Monaghan by over 17% in the past 12 months.

The Enterprise Agencies are working hard to drive job creation in the region.

IDA North East Region consists of Counties Louth Cavan and Monaghan where 33 multinational companies operate, employing 4,914 people. In 2016, IDA client companies supported 1,203 jobs in Cavan and 137 jobs in Monaghan.

In 2016, Enterprise Ireland client companies supported 5,221 jobs in Cavan and 5,168 jobs in Monaghan.

Cavan LEO supported 208 clients in 2016, employing a total of 1,162 people in the county while Monaghan LEO supported 153 clients with a total of 903 employed.

I am very conscious of the challenges as a result of Brexit faced by companies operating in close proximity to the Border, many of which trade freely on both sides of the border.

Since the UK referendum, the State agencies under my remit – Enterprise Ireland, IDA, LEOs 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 Scoreboard available to all companies to self-assess their preparedness for Brexit and generates a report suggesting appropriate responses.

For exporting companies, new resources were secured, 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.

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.