Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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572. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her Department's capital allocation in each of the years 2019 to 2023; and the areas to which funds will be allocated in each of those years. [25564/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My ambition is to secure Ireland's position as the best place to succeed in business, delivering sustainable employment and high standards of living for all. The Deputy will be aware that the recently published National Development Plan (NDP) sets out a high-level financial and budgetary framework, which includes indicative Exchequer allocations, for each Ministerial Vote Group, over a five-year period from 2018 to 2022. The indicative allocations for my Department are set out in the following table:

The precise budgetary Ministerial capital ceilings for the years 2019 to 2022 and beyond will be determined as part of the relevant annual Estimates processes. It is not possible at this time to provide the Deputy with the capital funding allocations for the years requested.

As regards the 2019 estimates process, it is expected that finalisation and publication of the 2019 REV allocations will be determined in early December 2019. Not withstanding the foregoing, the Deputy will be aware that the NDP, which is a ten-year plan out to 2027, also set out the investment priorities necessary to achieve the National Strategic Outcome 5: A Strong Economy, supported by Enterprise, Innovation and Skills. I and my Department are working to accelerate implementation of the key initiatives for which I have lead responsibility including:

- In early April I launched the second phase of the €60m Regional Enterprise Development Fund. This is part of a rolling programme of competitive calls over the coming years, and builds on the €31m of awards I announced in December 2017;

- I will announce the first call for proposals under the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund in the coming weeks;

- My Department is currently completing a review of the Seed and Venture Capital Scheme 2013-2018 and I will then bring forward proposals for a further scheme in 2019;

- IDA Ireland is continuing to invest in property solutions to attract investments into the regions;

- The number of world class Science Foundation Ireland Research Centres will increase further this year with the establishment of the Future Milk Centre;

- Additional funding is being provided in 2018 and beyond to increase the number of PhD qualified researchers from higher education sector;

- With the aid of funding from my Department and the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine and support of the SBCI and EIB, I, along with Ministers Creed and Donohoe announced a new €300 million Brexit working capital loan fund for businesses with less than 500 employees at the end of March. My Department is also working with colleagues in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine, SBCI and EIB on developing a long-term loan scheme for businesses affected by Brexit.

While the NDP is at a very early stage of its existence, I am determined to maximise the potential impacts of the funding being provided to my Department in the first five years of the Plan as set out above so as to ensure sustainable growth and quality employment for all.