Tony McLoughlin (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

74. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she has taken in budget 2019 to encourage and promote job creation in County Sligo and across the Border region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50520/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Since becoming Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, I have made regional development my top priority. Indeed, enterprise development and job creation in the regions of Ireland is a key policy priority of this Government.

We want to have a situation where all regions are enabled to realise their potential as contributors to economic recovery and growth, and thereby reduce regional disparities.

Sligo and the Border region has seen good progress, with employment in the region increasing by almost 5.2% from Q1 2015 to Q3 2018. This equates to an additional 8,800 more people in employment in the Border Region. In 2017, Enterprise Ireland reported job increases of 7% in the North West and by 5% in the North-East; while IDA reported increases of 4% across the Border region.

Through partnership between Enterprise Ireland and the Local Authorities, the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) across the Border Region (Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan) have 944 client companies employing 4,920 people.

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, to support start-ups and growth and in particular to support businesses to prepare for Brexit. 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 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, including in Sligo and Monaghan.

IDA Ireland is working to promote Sligo and the whole Border region to a range of potential investors, but especially in the areas of global business services, research and innovation and high-tech manufacturing.

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.

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 drive export sales, grow online revenue opportunities, and increase market diversification so as to underpin sustainable growth.

Finally, I announced a €300m Future Growth 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 is crucial as it 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.

Earlier this year I asked the Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) Implementation Committees, including in the North-West and North-East, to refresh and refocus their plans so as to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020, especially in the face of current challenges, including Brexit. This work is ongoing and is expected to conclude by year end.

On Monday, under the second call of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF), I announced an allocation of just over €29 million in funding that will support regions throughout the country to deliver on their economic and enterprise development potential.

21 projects from all over the country received funding. This is in addition to the €30 million in funding under Call 1 of the REDF that I announced in December 2017 that also funded 21 projects. The REDF is being rolled out by my Department, through Enterprise Ireland.

Over the first and second calls under the REDF, the North-East/North-West Region secured funding of over €10.6 million across seven projects.

The projects I announced under Call 2 on Monday were:

1. €953,640 for Leitrim Food Enterprise Zone: at Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim.

2. €1.9 million for a digital/tech enterprise hub in Sligo for entrepreneurs in digital gaming and associated tech sectors providing holistic support for start-up, innovation and growth.

3. €4.9 million for a 'Bioconnect' Biotechnology Innovation Centre: for cutting edge biotechnology research in Monaghan and the wider Region.

4. €250,000 to establish an Engineering Network of companies and local stakeholders in the North-East to safeguard and future develop the engineering sector.

These projects are in addition to the funding received under Call 1 which I announced last year, including:

€1.2 million for the development of a network of three Digital and Innovation Hubs in Counties Leitrim, Cavan and Longford; €1.1 million for the creation of an innovation ecosystem in Inishowen, Co Donegal; and €202,800 for the development of a Regional Food Centre of Excellence in Monaghan.

These initiatives will support Border region to deliver on its economic and enterprise development potential.