Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The EU Regional Aid Guidelines (RAGS) allow each Member State to provide enhanced rates of State Aid in the least economically developed areas of each country.

The 2014-2020 Regional Aid Guidelines entered into force on 01 July 2014.  Under the terms of the 2014 -2020 RAGS, regions covering 51.28% of Ireland’s population are designated as ‘assisted areas’. 

Being located in an assisted area does not confer any right to financial assistance.  Grants under Regional Aid come from the exchequer, i.e. there is no EU or other external funding.

Regional Aid is paid in the form of grants by the industrial development agencies in order to support new investment and new employment in productive projects.  Regional aid is also provided by other Departments under schemes for tourism grants, marine tourism, urban and rural renewal and other tax-based development schemes.

All counties have been designated apart from Dublin City and County, Cork City and County and the Mid-East generally, i.e. Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.

The only exceptions to the Mid East’s exclusion is the designation of the following three Local Electoral Areas, which contain Electoral Divisions with amongst the highest unemployment rates in the country.  The three exceptions in the Mid-East that have been designated are Kells, Athy and Arklow.

In respect of Kells, the Deputy is correct in acknowledging an improvement in the aid rate applicable for eligible projects.  This specifically relates to the aid rates for capital employment support under the regional aid guidelines of 10%, 20% and 30% for small medium and large companies for the period 2014-2020.  All projects are subject to assessment in terms of commercial, technical and market due diligence and should represent value for money in terms of the State’s investment.

As Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, my priority is to drive the creation of high-quality and sustainable employment across Ireland, including in County Meath.  We are making significant progress towards achieving our regional development targets, which include a 30% to 40% increase in FDI in the Mid-East Region which incorporates Meath, Kildare and Wicklow.  There are now 56 multinational companies based in this region, 17 of which are located in Meath, employing 1,496 staff.

The IDA is committed to increasing investment in Meath through ensuring an adequate supply of modern property solutions and supporting the development of the County’s FDI base. The Agency is also encouraging its client base there to undertake further investment projects. The IDA will continue to work with local authorities and other relevant agencies to support the development of further quality infrastructure in the County.

Enterprise Ireland engages with established client companies in Meath through teams of sectoral focused development advisors using a company led diagnostic approach which is used to establish clients’ business needs. Based on this, the agency can tailor a support package to the company’s growth potential based on their ambition, capability and need. A support package focuses, where relevant, on six business pillars (Innovation, Finance, Operations, Sales and Marketing, People and Organisational Development). Enterprise Ireland is actively working with established clients on a one-on-one basis to deliver this client engagement model. Enterprise Ireland has approximately 500 clients in the Mid-East, of this 168 are located in Meath. The Agency has supported client companies in Meath with an investment of €7 million in the period 2014 -2016.

In 2016, 7,007 people were employed in Enterprise Ireland supported companies in County Meath. 

Enterprise Ireland has co-funded, with local enterprise development groups, 157 Community Enterprise Centres across the country totaling €64 million. There is now a Community Enterprise Centre located in every county.These centers collectively employ approximately 6,000 people across 1,200 companies and are key hubs of enterprise activity in many areas. In Meath, Enterprise Ireland has co-funded the establishment of 3 Community Enterprise Centres.

In 2016, the Local Enterprise Office (LEO) in Meath approved 25 grants to support business development, to a value of €293,998.  The LEO Office also ran training courses for 427 participants, provided mentoring services for 229 participants and supported 22 applications for loan finance to MicroFinance Ireland.