Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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59. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which the various bodies under her aegis continue to establish new product manufacturing enterprises and new markets to the extent required to fill the likely vacuum in the aftermath of Brexit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6007/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The long-term response to Brexit is for companies to become more competitive, more innovative and to diversify their export footprint into more markets. I am confident that the agencies under my Department have the supports to enable companies to consolidate market share within the UK and also to become more resilient by broadening their sales to other international markets. Enterprise Ireland (EI) and the LEOs are actively supporting their clients to achieve this. My Department provided for additional monies in 2017 to enable EI and the LEOs to ramp up its supports in light of Brexit to drive improvements in:

- productivity,

- innovation,

- management capability and leadership skills,

and really driving the ambition of managers to look to other markets around the world.

At the centre of EI’s strategy, Build Scale, Expand Reach 2017 – 2020, are strategic targets focused on:

- Assisting clients to  create 60,000 new jobs by 2020 while sustaining the existing record level of jobs;

- Growing the annual exports  of client companies by €5bn to €26bn per annum;

- Increasing the level of  spend made by client companies in the Irish economy by €4bn to €27bn per annum by 2020; and

- Inspiring more Irish owned companies to have global ambition.

In support of this, EI is implementing extensive trade mission and event schedules focussed on global and sectoral opportunities, further developing in-market expertise and networks, placing greater focus on identifying new sectoral opportunities and stimulating demand for Irish products and services through international marketing campaigns. In 2017, EI launched a new Eurozone Strategy to increase exports to Eurozone countries by 50% by 2020.

The first year of the Strategy was a very strong year for job creation among EI clients with over 19,300 new jobs created in 2017, resulting in a net gain of 10,309 jobs across the country. In 2017 EI supported companies employed 209,338 people. 65 % of client employment is outside of Dublin.

We are seeing growth in traditional industry sectors such as construction and manufacturing as well as in the Digital technology and LifeSciences sectors.

The Local Enterprise Offices are supporting their clients by providing information, training and mentoring on Brexit related issues as well as advice on other sources of support. LEO’s 2017 results are expected to be available in early March.

To support the eight Regional Action Plans, and as part of the Government’s strategic response to Brexit, additional funding of up to €60m is being rolled out by EI over the next 4 years. The Regional Enterprise Development Fund will support the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level.  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 second call is planned to be launched by EI in March 2018.

A key priority of mine is to ensure that this Government remains true to our export led growth policies. We will continue to support start-ups and ambitious companies across the country and help them scale faster through the work of the Local Enterprise Offices and Enterprise Ireland. I will keep a focus on regional initiatives and on building strength and resilience among existing exporting companies and also on broadening the exporting base by doing all we can to get Irish companies the supports they need to get exporting and thereby create sustainable quality jobs.