Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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126. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the degree to which emphasis is placed on the facilitating and encouraging employment generating enterprises throughout the regions with particular reference to the need to ensure an even spread of investment with consequent benefit to the economy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17064/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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On becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I made jobs and enterprise growth in the regions my top priority.

Since 2015, the Regional Action Plan for Jobs initiative has been a central pillar of the Government's ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, with 135,000 of these jobs to be located outside of Dublin. Eight Regional Action Plans for Jobs (RAPJs) were published by the Department between June 2015 and January 2016, aimed at raising employment levels in the regions and facilitating them to achieve their economic potential.

The primary objective of these plans is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020 and to ensure the unemployment rate of each region does not exceed the State average by more than one percentage point.

The Plans, incorporating over 1,300 actions, are being monitored and driven in each region by Implementation Committees, comprising representatives from the business community, as well as the Local Authorities, Enterprise Agencies, and other public bodies in the region. Many of the actions set out in the RAPJs require active engagement with, and the development of networks within, the private sector. To drive this process, key industry figures have been appointed to act as Enterprise Champions within each Region. Indeed, eight of the nine Implementation Committees are industry led.

Progress across the eight regions has been very positive since the launch of the initiative, with an increase in employment of 8.5% or 118,600 jobs in the regions outside of Dublin and 166,800 additional jobs nationwide, from Q1 2015 to Q2 2017. Importantly, the Plans have been embraced within the regions and implementation rates for actions within the First and Second Progress Reports are over 90% for each region. Final progress reports for the current iteration of the Regional Plans are in preparation and will be published in the coming weeks.

The enterprise agencies have recorded substantial progress in the past few years. Under the IDA ‘Winning’ Strategy 2015-2019, the Agency is targeting a minimum 30% to 40% increase in the number of investments for each region outside Dublin in the period of the Strategy. These targets have been developed taking into account the key factors crucial to attracting and retaining FDI.

Since the IDA ‘Winning’ Strategy was launched in 2015, half of all new IDA backed jobs created, were outside Dublin. All regions saw increases in IDA employment in 2017, with the South East experiencing the highest growth at 9%.

Similarly, every region saw increases in Enterprise Ireland-supported jobs in 2017, with 64% of new positions outside of Dublin. The West, Mid-West and North West saw the largest level of increases at 7%.

Micro and small businesses supported by the Local Enterprise Offices are making a hugely important contribution to employment growth. An average of 3,750 new jobs were created in LEO supported companies in each of the last four years.

To support the ambition, goals, and implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs, last May my Department launched the €60m Regional Enterprise Development Fund. This competitive Fund is being rolled out by Enterprise Ireland over the next 4 years to support collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. In December last year I announced an allocation of €30.5 million under the first call under the Fund, with 21 projects from all over the country approved for funding.

I launched the second call under the REDF on Monday 16th April, which will allocate the remainder of the €60 million, and I hope to see more successful projects coming through from all regions. I want to see all regions benefitting from this Fund and to this end, I am committed to ensuring that a minimum of €2 million in funding will be allocated to each region once projects submitted meet the threshold of standard set by Enterprise Ireland under the Scheme.

Building on the progress and momentum of collaboration achieved to date through the Regional Action Plans is my priority. On Monday last I also met with the Chairs of the Regional APJ committees and other regional stakeholders, and together we have started a process to refresh and refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. I look forward to working further with the regional stakeholders all over the country to ensure we deliver to the employment targets for 2020 set out under the Regional Plans.