Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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282. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the degree to which she continues to maximise business and innovation opportunities to enhance job creation through innovation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50843/18]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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283. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the degree to which she continues to support business through innovation and maximisation of opportunities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50844/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 282 and 283 together.

My Department recognises that innovation is key to maintaining competitiveness for Ireland in global markets, and for providing jobs and sustaining growth across the whole of the economy, as well as embedding the foreign direct investment base in Ireland.

In 2018, Ireland rose to 9th place in the European Innovation Scorecard. We also retained our position in the Global Innovation Index, ranking 10th out of 126 countries.

Ireland’s strategy for research and development, science and technology, Innovation 2020, articulates Ireland’s ambition to become a Global Innovation Leader, identifying priority themes, which have been revised to reflect the impact of technological change and digitisation.

A report published by my Department in October 2018,‘The Research and Development Budget (R&D) 2017 – 2018’ presents the latest available data on the Government Research and Development (R&D) Budget and on Ireland’s R&D expenditure across all sectors.

It reports that Government Budget Allocations for R&D (GBARD) in 2017 was €739.3m, an increase of 2.8% in expenditure over the previous year. It also reports that a total of 36,087 personnel (full-time equivalents) were working in R&D in 2016. Of these, 18,203 were working in the business sector, 1,891 in the higher education sector and 933 in the Government sector.

My Department, through its agencies Science Foundation Ireland (SFI), Enterprise Ireland (EI) and IDA Ireland supports both business and higher education sectors RDI activities. My Department is also making significant investments to develop the national ecosystem of research and technology centres.

Ireland’s continued economic growth and prosperity depends on maintaining and indeed increasing investment across the broad science, technology and innovation spectrum.

My commitment to continuing support for innovation can be evidenced by the increase in my Department’s 2019 innovation budget to €368.95m – an increase of €40.25m over 2018. This will be spent over a range of initiatives and programmes that advance innovation and facilitate opportunities for Irish interests on EU and world markets. SFI and EI R&D programmes account for over 80% of my Department’s innovation budget. SFI and EI will continue to leverage EU and private sector funding for research programmes, building on successes to date.

A specific innovation programme is Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), managed by EI, which enables public sector bodies to connect with innovative ideas and technology businesses, to provide innovative solutions for specific public-sector challenges and needs. 10 SBIR challenges have issued in 2018 with a further HSE suite of challenges expected before year end.

Of particular innovative relevance in the 2019 budget is the allocation of €20m for Phase I of the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, which has a total fund of €500m as set out in Project Ireland 2040. This fund is about exploiting research to deliver new technologies and new solutions. It will incentivise collaborations between companies, colleges and other public-sector bodies to deploy disruptive technology in Ireland, in ways that will create entirely new companies and even new sectors in due course.

The budget also includes an additional €10m in 2019 as part of a €100m dedicated PhD/Masters training programme through SFI in areas aligned to enterprise needs. An additional €5m in 2019 is specifically allocated for the renewal of six of SFI’s world-leading research centres. SFI engage in excellent research with industry and to date this has resulted in over 600 contracts with industry, €150m of industry co-funding and €170m of competitively won funding from Europe.

There is also assistance available from the European Union. Horizon 2020 is the instrument that supports collaborative R&D in Europe. Irish companies that compete successfully for funding from Horizon 2020 will boost their innovation capability and competitiveness, which in turn, will deliver strong national economic impacts, including job creation and increases in sales and exports. My agencies provide support to their client companies in this application process. Ireland has secured over €630m research funding through the current Horizon 2020 programme and remains on course to achieve its ambitious target of €1.25b in research funding by the conclusion of the programme.

However, notwithstanding all these innovation supports, more needs to be done. Technological change is already impacting several sectors, such as manufacturing, finance, retail and transport. These changes will present both challenges and new opportunities - certain job roles will disappear or be redefined and brand-new job roles will appear requiring new and different skillsets. Technological innovation is radically transforming our lives, and this will continue.

I am aware that we need to work now to position Ireland to prepare for and respond to these changes. For Ireland to be at the frontier of technological developments we must both encourage and facilitate innovation across sectors and firms - by increasing investment in RD&I and promoting strong links between enterprise and the research community, both nationally and internationally.

To this end, my Department, along with the Department of the Taoiseach, is currently developing the Future Jobs Initiative, a new cross-Government strategy to guide the next phase of Ireland’s economic development. The focus is on quality jobs, improving productivity and building a resilient and innovative economy. Innovation and technological change is one of the five key pillars and this focus will have a positive impact on the innovation ecosystem.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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284. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which she continues to encourage enterprise with a view to even greater job creation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50845/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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Driving more enterprise creation by supporting the indigenous sector is a key focus of mine and I am working closely with the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) and with Enterprise Ireland (EI) to achieve this. A strong and resilient indigenous sector is a crucial part of a growing economy.

I recently announced a record budget allocation for my Department to help businesses, entrepreneurs and drive regional growth. The initiatives announced include:

- Getting Business Brexit Ready: €300m long-term Future Growth Loan Scheme; €8m extra for Brexit staffing & supports across enterprise and regulatory agencies; Roll out of customs training through LEOs and EI; €1m additional funding for InterTrade Ireland.

- Driving Indigenous Enterprise and Regional Growth: A new round of €175m for Seed and Venture Capital Fund; €5m Competitive Funding for LEOs; €10m extra for IDA Regional Property Programme; €2.75m for SMEs Regional Innovation and Technology Clusters Programme; €1.8m for Design Craft Council of Ireland; Doubling Retail Online Pilot Scheme to €1.25m.

- Boosting Innovation: €20m for Phase 1 of Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund; €2.75m additional for European Southern Observatory membership; €10m additional for PhD/Research Masters Programme; €0.5m additional for European Space Agency; €5m additional capital for six SFI world-class research centres, €1m additional capital for SFI’s Strategic Partnership Programme; €1m extra funding for Tyndall Institute.

In prioritising three key areas of Brexit, regional growth and innovation, I am confident that our business community will be best placed to meet the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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285. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of job-creating enterprises supported by her Department in the past 12 months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50846/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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My Department has a comprehensive and wide-ranging approach to fostering and supporting job creating enterprises that encompasses both strategic and enterprise agency led input.

The Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) initiative is a central pillar of the Government’s ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, 135,000 of which are outside of Dublin. A key objective of the initiative is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of having the unemployment rate of each region within one per cent of the national average.

Since the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) there has been an increase of 258,800 people in employment across the State since Q1 2015 to Q3 2018, with 163,500 people in the regions outside of Co. Dublin entering employment in that period. That is over 63% - or 3 out of every 5 jobs created – were for regions outside of Co. Dublin (Q1 2015 – Q3 2018). In the year from Q3 2017 – Q3 2018, just over half (51%) of the jobs created were outside of Co. Dublin.

In April of this year, I asked all the RAPJ committees and other regional stakeholders to start a process to Refresh and Refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. The Refresh and Refocus will ensure that the Plans remain effective and that they continue to deliver jobs across the country and can be robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit.

All Regions have established a Project Delivery Team, which has met to examine initial proposals for each Region’s Strategic Objectives and all Regions now have a working draft of their refreshed Plans. The refreshed Regional Plans aim to be completed by the end of the year.

The IDA has performed very strongly over the last 12 months and it is a huge achievement that there are now over 210,000 people employed in IDA Ireland client companies.

The fact that it has surpassed its overall five-year target of 209,000 within three years is further evidence of the Agency’s success in growing the level of employment by multinationals here. I am especially pleased to see that of the 237 overseas investments made in 2017, a record number of 111 were from new companies investing in Ireland for the first time. This reflects the health of the pipeline of foreign direct investment (FDI) here.

The Agency has maintained – if not bettered – its strong performance from 2017 into 2018. Regions outside of Dublin have had some high-profile job announcements including 600 jobs in the Mid-West at Edwards Life Sciences and 400 new jobs promised for Dundalk by Chinese life sciences company Wuxi Biologics. There were also two significant announcements in Longford in Avery Dennison and Red Seal Sups, bringing 300 jobs to the Midlands region.

The global investment climate, we should remember, is becoming ever more competitive. Our collective ability to continue winning new overseas investment for Ireland is therefore a testament to both the work of the IDA and the strength of our offering to multinational companies.

Enterprise Ireland supports approximately 5,000 companies and a total of 209,338 people are now employed in those companies. Despite the challenges and uncertainty created by Brexit, there are also many opportunities and Irish companies have continued to win sales around the world that have supported strong job creation across all regions of Ireland.

19,332 new jobs were created by Enterprise Ireland backed companies in 2017, with 64% of these jobs created in regions outside of Dublin. There was employment growth in every sector and every county.

The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for advice, guidance, financial assistance and soft supports such as training and mentoring to those wishing to start or grow their own business.

In 2017, the LEOs supported 7,182 client companies employing 37,485 people. They created 7,135 new jobs with a net increase of 3,760 jobs. The LEOs provided mentoring to 8,393 clients in 2017 and 30,373 people took part in training provided by the LEOs.

My Department also supports InterTrade Ireland (ITI), the cross-border trade and business development body. Funding for ITI is jointly provided by my Department and our Northern Ireland counterpart, the Department for the Economy. Through its innovation and trade initiatives, ITI helps small businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland to explore new cross-border markets and develop new products, processes and services which help improve capability as well as driving competitiveness, growth and jobs. With the launch of the Brexit Advisory Service in May 2017, InterTrade Ireland is also helping companies to prepare for the UK’s exit from the EU through a range of supports and services. ITI is a small organisation but with a big outreach; to date, the body has assisted over 39,000 companies, created or protected over 14,000 jobs and supported over €1.2bn in additional business development value for small businesses across the island.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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286. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans for the maximisation of job creation opportunities throughout the regions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50847/18]

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.

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.

Strategic investments within the overarching national context (Project Ireland 2040), and actions focused on maximising the competitive advantages and potential of each of the regions are key to ensuring each region can contribute to, and participate in Ireland’s future national growth, and sustain a higher standard of living.

The recently published Q3 2018 CSO Labour Force Survey employment figures are overall very positive. Figures show that employment continues to grow strongly with 66,700 jobs created in the year from Q3 2017 to Q3 2018. This brings total employment to 2,273,000.

The number of people in employment has increased in six of the eight regions in the year from Q3 2017 to Q3 2018. The exception to this is the Mid-West (which has remained static) and the Border region.

Since the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) there has been an increase of 258,800 people in employment across the State since Q1 2015 to Q3 2018, with 163,500 people in the regions outside of Co. Dublin entering employment in that period.

Over 63% - or 3 out of every 5 jobs created – were for regions outside of Co. Dublin (Q1 2015 – Q3 2018).

In the year from Q3 2017 – Q3 2018, just over half (51%) of the jobs created were outside of Co. Dublin.

My Department's Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) initiative is a central pillar of the Government’s ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, 135,000 of which are outside of Dublin.

A key objective of the initiative is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of having the unemployment rate of each region to within one percentage point of the State average.

Government policies are working but of course we always want to do more.

That’s why in April this year I asked all the RAPJ Committees to start a process to Refresh and Refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. The Refresh and Refocus will ensure that the Plans are more focused and effective, and are robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit.

I met with the Chairpersons of the RAPJ Committees in October to hear directly about the progress made on the Refresh of the Plans to date. All Regions have established a Project Delivery Team, which has met to examine initial proposals for each Region’s Strategic Objectives and all Regions now have a working draft of their refreshed Plans.The refreshed Regional Plans aim to be completed by the end of the year.

My Department is also working closely with the agencies (IDA, EI and the LEOs) and other relevant stakeholders, and their ongoing regional activities will also be included in the Plans.

On Monday the 3rd December, under the second call of my Department's Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF) managed by Enterprise Ireland, 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. A total of 21 projects from all over the country received funding under this second call. This is in addition to the 21 projects that were approved €30.5 million in funding under Call 1 of the REDF announced in December 2017.

The REDF is aimed at accelerating economic recovery in all regions of the country by delivering on the potential of local and regional enterprise strengths. The Fund has supported significant collaborative and innovative regional initiatives to build on specific industry sectoral strengths and improve enterprise capability, thereby driving job creation. This will be achieved by co-financing the development and implementation of collaborative and innovative projects that can sustain and add to employment at a national, regional and county level. The Fund will help to ensure the benefits of our growing economy are felt in all regions.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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287. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the degree to which she continues to encourage enterprise and innovation as a means of creating job opportunities throughout rural Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50848/18]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Government has laid a solid foundation for businesses, allowing for jobs and growth to flourish while safeguarding against global challenges including Brexit. Innovation is an essential element to maintaining competitiveness, providing jobs and sustaining growth. My Department’s innovation budget for 2019 has been increased by €40m to almost €369m and will fund a range of initiatives and programmes that advance innovation and facilitate opportunities for Irish interests on the European and world stages.

The €500m Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund (DTIF) is being implemented through my Department and its agencies, working with other research funding bodies to develop Ireland’s innovation ecosystem and responsiveness. The fund will see investment in the development and deployment of disruptive innovative technologies and applications, on a commercial basis, targeted at tackling national and global challenges. In 2019, €20m has been allocated to DTIF in Phase 1. Furthermore, an additional allocation of €10m in 2019 has been included as part of the dedicated €100m PhD and Masters training programme through Science Foundation Ireland in areas aligned to enterprise needs.

The Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) initiative is a central pillar of the Government’s ambition to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020, 135,000 of which are outside of Dublin. A key objective of the initiative is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of having the unemployment rate of each region within one per cent of the national average.

Since the launch of the Regional Action Plan for Jobs (RAPJ) there has been an increase of 258,800 people in employment across the State since Q1 2015 to Q3 2018, with 163,500 people in the regions outside of Co. Dublin entering employment in that period. That is over 63% - or 3 out of every 5 jobs created – were for regions outside of Co. Dublin (Q1 2015 – Q3 2018).

In the year from Q3 2017 – Q3 2018, just over half (51%) of the jobs created were outside of Co. Dublin.

In April of this year I asked all the RAPJ committees and other regional stakeholders to start a process to Refresh and Refocus all Regional Plans to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020. The Refresh and Refocus will ensure that the Plans remain effective and that they continue to deliver jobs across the country and can be robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit.

Yesterday, on 3rd December, I was delighted to announce in Navan just over €29 million in funding by my Department through Enterprise Ireland under Call 2 of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF). This funding has been awarded to 21 regional projects all around the country, bringing the total amount of funding awarded under the two Calls of this scheme to €60 million across 42 regional projects, in all regions.

Since 2015, IDA Ireland has been working towards regional development targets set out in their strategy for the period between 2015-2019. This includes a goal of increasing investment in every region of Ireland by 30%-40%. Real progress is being made towards that objective. In 2017, for example, 45% of all jobs created were based outside of Dublin. The Agency is working hard to increase that percentage further.

I know the IDA and its staff are working, on a daily basis, to secure new investment and jobs for regional areas. It is encouraging to note, for example, that in the first three quarters of 2018 there were 461 site visits and over half of these visits were to regional locations. This helps show the ongoing efforts being made by the Agency to showcase regional sites to prospective investors.

However, we must remember that the ultimate decision as to where to invest is always taken by the company itself. I understand the focus placed on site visits and it is the case that they represent a useful tool by which the merits of regional locations can be showcased to investors. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that site visit activity does not necessarily reflect investment potential, as almost 70% of all new FDI comes from existing IDA Ireland client companies.

Budget 2019 also saw the Agency allocated an additional €10m for the Regional Property Programme (RPP). This will help ensure that property solutions are in place for overseas companies considering investing or expanding, thereby encouraging more FDI to the regions. The IDA plans to develop new buildings in regional locations including Carlow, Dundalk, Monaghan, Sligo, Athlone, Waterford, Limerick and Galway.

19,332 new jobs were created by Enterprise Ireland backed companies in 2017, with 64% of these jobs created in regions outside of Dublin. There was employment growth in every sector and every county.

In Budget 2019, I allocated an extra €8m to the enterprise agencies and regulatory bodies under my Department, who work with firms at the coalface to develop their supports for business. I allocated an additional €3m to Enterprise Ireland to enhance our Global Footprint. This will help companies to diversify into new markets as the UK leaves the EU. €2.75m will also be allocated to Enterprise Ireland to fund a support programme of Regional Innovation and Technology Clusters.

I have also allocated €1.8m to the Design and Crafts Council of Ireland over 3 years to expand marketing and development programmes to support Irish designers and makers to exhibit at international trade fairs, to develop partnerships with flagship retailers, and to develop e-commerce capacity.

The Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are the ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice, and guidance, financial assistance and soft supports such as training and mentoring to those wishing to start or grow their own business.

The LEOs can offer direct grant aid to microenterprises (10 employees or fewer) in the manufacturing and internationally traded services sectors which, over time, have the potential to develop into strong export entities. Subject to certain eligibility criteria, the LEOs can provide financial assistance within three main categories: Feasibility Grants (investigating the potential of a business idea); Priming Grants (to part-fund a start-up); and Business Development Grants for existing businesses that want to expand.

The LEOs have been allocated an additional €5m for 2019 and this will allow them to focus resources on specific platforms: Building Locally – a proposal to establish a competitive fund to support high quality proposals in that context; Sustaining and Growing Existing Microenterprises – an additional resource with a focus on key clients with growth potential or in need of devising a plan to counteract the impacts of Brexit; Brexit and Customs implications/impacts - training and awareness programmes to support firms throughout the country, in all regions, in the area of both Import and Export customs implications and procedures.

My Department also supports InterTradeIreland (ITI), the cross-border trade and business development body. Funding for ITI is jointly provided by DBEI and our Northern Ireland counterpart, the Department for the Economy. Through its innovation and trade initiatives, ITI helps small businesses in Ireland and Northern Ireland to explore new cross-border markets and develop new products, processes and services which help improve capability as well as driving competitiveness, growth and jobs. With the launch of the Brexit Advisory Service in May 2017, InterTradeIreland is also helping companies to prepare for the UK’s exit from the EU through a range of supports and services. ITI is a small organisation but with a big outreach; to date, the body has assisted over 39,000 companies, created or protected over 14,000 jobs and supported over €1.2bn in additional business development value for small businesses across the island.

To support this important work, my Department will provide an additional €1 million in capital funding to ITI in 2019. This funding will enable the body to engage with more of the companies that are seeking its support through the Brexit Advisory Service, as well as meeting demand for existing programmes which are all designed to promote and support cross-border trade.