Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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116. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the full extent to which job creation through enterprise and innovation continues notwithstanding competition by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11501/19]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am currently in the process of launching the new Regional Enterprise Plans in every region, with eight Plans launched to date, with the ninth Plan (South-East) scheduled to be launched by the end of this month.

The Regional Enterprise Plans to 2020 are enterprise focused documents that are the result of a refresh and refocus of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs to ensure their relevance and impact out to 2020, so that they continue to deliver jobs across the country, in every region, and can be robust to address the challenges we face, including Brexit.

The principle behind the Regional Enterprise Plans is collaboration between regional stakeholders on initiatives that can help to realise the region’s enterprise development potential. These stakeholders include: Local Authorities, the LEOs, the enterprise agencies, the Regional Skills Forum, tourism bodies, private sector ‘enterprise champions’, the Higher Education Institutes and others.

Enterprise Ireland’s results for 2018 show the progress that the Agency has been making in driving enterprise development at a national and regional level.  Enterprise Ireland assisted client companies created 18,846 jobs in 2018 and 64% of the jobs created were outside Dublin with all regions recording increases in employment.  There were 215,207 people employed by Enterprise Ireland client companies in 2018, the highest total employment in the history of the Agency.  The table following breaks down the number of people employed in Enterprise Ireland client companies in 2018 by county.

The IDA’s results for 2018 demonstrate the progress we have been making in encouraging regional investment. Last year, 56% of all new jobs created by the Agency’s overseas clients were in locations outside Dublin. Every region in the country saw FDI-driven job gains. There are now over 132,000 people employed in IDA client firms outside the capital, representing 58% of IDA-supported employment. These are all promising figures and show how real strides have been made in boosting FDI-related job creation across Ireland. The table following breaks down the number of people employed in IDA Ireland client companies in 2018 by county.

In 2018 the Local Enterprise Offices supported clients increased employment by 8,007 gross new jobs which resulted in 3,656 net jobs being created across the LEO client portfolio bring the total number employed to 36,666.  Also, in 2018, the LEOs provided training to 34,907 participants. Of these, 3,944 participants took part in the LEO-run ‘Start Your Own Business’ programmes.  The table following breaks down the number of people employed in LEO supported enterprises in 2018 by county.

We will continue to do our utmost to reinforce and strengthen these positive trends and to further job creation across the entirety of the country.