Frank O'Rourke (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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275. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if consideration will be given to designating Naas, County Kildare and surrounding areas as a food hub, in view of the strong agri-food sector in the locality; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53536/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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In this year’s, Action Plan for Jobs, we made the decision to place a specific focus on strengthening the rural and regional economy.

Last Monday 11^thDecember 2017, I announced the results of the first round of the new €60m competitive Regional Enterprise Development Fund. This Fund allows us to drive growth in key sectors or geographies across the country and build on our strengths, particularly in the context of Brexit. Therefore, while there is no Government plan to formally designate Naas as a food hub, we are backing local and regional stakeholders to drive the future of their own communities by supporting their innovative proposals which will help to deliver job creation and sustainable employment.

Twenty-one successful applicants representing all regions of the country have secured up to €30.5m for their projects in the first competitive call. The Fund, which is an open national competitive call to support regional projects, is provided by my Department through Enterprise Ireland and is a key action to support the Regional Action Plan for Jobs and the Action Plan for Rural Development.

Our aim is to provide financial support for organisations set up specifically to bring together stakeholders on projects that will benefit the local community, the region or nationally. The successful applicants include an exciting range of projects which will develop strong entrepreneurial or innovation ecosystems, encourage clusters of similar businesses, or develop specific sectors where there is the potential for competitive advantage.

The second call opens in March 2018 and we expect to see a similar level of interest from new applicants as well as applications from some first-round applicants who may wish to reapply. My Department through Enterprise Ireland look forward to supporting more regionally-based projects as they support business growth through this exciting, regionally-focused initiative.

Details of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund second call is available on Enterprise Ireland’s websitewww.enterprise-ireland.com/REDF.