Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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140. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will report on the Midlands Regional Enterprise Plan. [60671/21]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of mine and this Government.

My Department is currently overseeing the development of nine new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024.

These are ‘bottom-up’ plans, developed by regional stakeholders which identify growth opportunities, recognise vulnerabilities, and enable job creation across the regions including in the Midlands region through collaborative regional actions.

The new Midlands Plan to 2024 which covers Laois, Longford, Offaly and Westmeath will build on the core activities of the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and the LEOs and the wider range of State Bodies involved in supporting enterprise development in the region.

I am driving the delivery of the new Plan in the Midlands and over the past year have engaged directly with the Midlands Regional Steering Committee made up of regional stakeholders and chaired by Dr. Anne Cusack.

The regional stakeholders in the Midlands region have signed-off on three focused Strategic Objectives together with supporting actions for their region on Climate Action; on Smart Specialisation and wider digitalisation within regional businesses, and on Placemaking to make the region an attractive location for businesses and individuals.

It is my intention to publish the Midlands Plan and launch it early in 2022.

Finally, almost €6.8m has been invested by the Government into five regional enterprise projects in the Midlands under the three calls of the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and the recent Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme. I was also pleased to see that €25,000 was recently approved to Westmeath County Council under the Department’s Feasibility Funding scheme.