Eamon Scanlon (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail)
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348. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she has taken in budget 2019 to encourage and promote job creation in counties Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Donegal and the north west; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43877/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Since becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I have made jobs and enterprise in the regions my top priority. Enterprise development has been central to our success in reducing national unemployment from a high of 16% to 5.4% at the end of September 2018 - the lowest level in over a decade.

The Border (Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan) and West (Galway, Mayo, Roscommon) regions have seen good progress, with employment in these regions increasing by 2.6% and 12.6% in total respectively from Q1 2015 to Q2 2018, according to the CSO Labour Force Survey.

In 2017, Enterprise Ireland reported job increases in both the North West and West of 7% each; while IDA reported increases of 4% across the Border region and 5% in the West. Through partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) across Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal and Roscommon have 753 client companies employing 3,410 people; and last year those companies added 267 new jobs in total.

I am happy to say that in Budget 2019, I secured an increase in my Department’s total exchequer allocation by 9.1% year on year, up from €871m to €950.2m.

This is made up of a record €620m in capital and €330.2m in current funding, which includes:

- an increase of €65m in capital – up 11.7% on this year’s allocation of €555m; and

- an increase of €14.2m in current – almost 4.5% more than our 2018 allocation of €316m.

Regional development was one of my three main priorities for Budget 2019 and I approved a range of measures to drive indigenous enterprise development and regional growth.

I allocated an extra €5m to the 31 LEOs, up 22% on 2018, which have a presence in every county, including Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Donegal, to support start-ups and growth and in particular to support businesses to prepare for Brexit. The LEOs will work with the broad range of small and micro indigenous enterprises across sectors to ensure that they are informed and have plans in place to manage the new trading relationships on the island and with the UK more generally. This will include a new customs training programme for all businesses, exporters and importers, to be rolled out in conjunction with Enterprise Ireland.

The IDA’s regional property programme is critical to encouraging more foreign direct investment into the regions. So, I was pleased to announce an allocation of €10m to the next phase of the IDA’s Regional Property Programme. Project Ireland 2040 names the Border and Midlands regions as priority areas for this Programme, and so the funding will be used to start building advanced facilities in a number of regional locations. The next phase of the IDA Regional Property Programme will see new buildings constructed in a number of regional locations, including in Sligo.

IDA Ireland is working to promote Counties Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon and Donegal to a range of potential investors, but especially in the areas of global business services, research and innovation and high-tech manufacturing. The IDA also regularly engages - with a view to encouraging job creation and investment - with key stakeholders on the ground in these counties, including with local authorities, public bodies, the education sector and companies from both its own client base and from the indigenous sector.

I was also pleased to announce an additional capital allocation €2.75m to Enterprise Ireland to start developing regional innovation and technology clusters with Institutes of Technology right across the country, positioning them as drivers of world-class start-ups and growth enterprises.

Through Enterprise Ireland, I also doubled funding for the Online Retail Pilot Scheme to €1.25m in 2019, which will support SMEs in the retail sector to have a stronger online presence. This new Scheme follows through on our commitment to increase the scale and internationalisation of indigenous enterprise; increase productivity in high-employment sectors; and encourage Brexit readiness.

In addition, I also secured funding for a new phase of Enterprise Ireland’s Seed & Venture Capital Scheme out to 2024. The new scheme, which is worth €175m, will be oriented towards seed and early stage investments, where there is a very clear market failure.

I announced an additional €1.8m investment for the Design Craft Council of Ireland (DCCOI) which will assist craft enterprises all over the country to develop and generate additional export sales and online revenue opportunities, increased market diversification so as to underpin sustainable growth.

Finally, I announced a €300m Brexit Future Growth Longer Term Loan Scheme for loans of up to 10 years. The Scheme has been developed by my Department with the European Investment Bank Group, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, and the Department of Finance together with the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland.

This Scheme will provide businesses the opportunity to borrow for up to ten years to support capital investment. It addresses the lack of availability of loans in the marketplace for loan-terms of longer than five-to-seven years.

In April of this year, along with Minister Breen, I met with the Chairs of all the Regional Action Plan for Jobs committees and other regional stakeholders, to start a process to Refresh and Refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their effectiveness, relevance and impact out to 2020, particularly in light of Brexit. I had a further meeting with the Chairs of the Regional Committees last week in my offices and I am pleased with the ambition and quality of the strategic actions being developed. The refreshed West and North West Region Action Plans for Jobs will further strengthen a collaborative approach at regional level which will enhance the impact and delivery of the supports outlined in Budget 2019, and existing supports, to increase job creation and enterprise development.