Fiona O'Loughlin (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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458. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the supports proposed to assist SMEs in County Kildare as a result of budget 2019; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44627/18]

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 unemployment from a high of 16% to 5.4% at the end of September - the lowest level in over a decade.

The Mid East region has seen good progress recently, with an unemployment rate of 5% in 2017, the lowest rate of all the regions. Overall employment figures for the region increased by 32,900 from Q1 2015 to Q2 2018. In 2017, both Enterprise Ireland and IDA reported job increases in the Mid East of 4% and 6% respectively.

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 €871 million to €950.2 million.

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

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

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

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 secured additional funding of €5 million in Budget 2019 for the Local Enterprise Offices. This brings the (LEO) capital allocation for 2019 to €27.5 million, a significant increase of 22% on the 2018 figure.

This additional funding will enable the LEOs to focus on supporting, strengthening and building resilience for commercial start-ups, micro-enterprises and local businesses that will sustain and create good quality jobs in every town and county, including Kildare. 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.

I was also pleased to announce an additional capital allocation €2.75 million 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 €1.25 million 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 €175 million, will be oriented towards seed and early stage investments, where there is a very clear market failure.

I announced an additional €1.8 million 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.

In addition, the Future Growth Loan Scheme announced in Budget 2019 will make a fund of up to €300 million available to SMEs for terms of 8-10 years. The scheme will be open to eligible Irish businesses, including those in the primary agriculture and seafood sectors, to support strategic, long-term investment in a post-Brexit environment. Finance provided under the scheme will be competitively priced and have favourable terms, with loans of up to €500,000 unsecured. The scheme is expected to launch in early 2019 and will sit alongside the Brexit Loan Scheme as part of the Department’s suite of Brexit supports.

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 am pleased with the ambition and quality of the proposals being developed. The refreshed Mid East Region Action Plan for Jobs will enhance the impact and delivery of the supports outlined in Budget 2019, and existing supports, to increase job creation and enterprise development.