Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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33. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the specific enterprise plan that his Department has developed for County Wexford, home to Rosslare Europort, which is a vital strategic asset for the country and the south east region, in order to secure direct foreign and indigenous investment to the county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45118/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Regional enterprise development and sustainable local job creation is a key policy priority of this Government.

Earlier this year, my Department launched nine new Regional Enterprise Plans (REPs) to 2024. The new REPs are an integral part of Ireland’s enterprise policy, aimed at driving economic growth and sustaining better standards of living throughout Ireland. These are bottom-up plans, developed by regional stakeholders including the Local Authorities, the enterprise agencies, local enterprise offices, Regional Skills Forum and education and training institutes in each region. Each Plan is overseen and monitored by a Steering Committee made up of regional stakeholders and chaired by a senior level private sector business person.

Following in-depth consultation among key stakeholders within the region, the South-East REP was launched on 3 March at Kent Stainless in Ardcavan, Co. Wexford. The Plan covers four counties, Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford – and Wexford. It contains a set of objectives and related actions to be delivered by end 2024 which are complementary to existing Government initiatives.

Action 2.1 of the South-East REP specifically identifies the importance of Rosslare Europort and the Port of Waterford in positioning the South-East as an offshore and onshore wind energy hub. The ambition outlined in the REP is to secure enabling infrastructural investment in Rosslare Europort and establishing a South-East Wind Energy Working Group bringing all the relevant stakeholders together in a cluster.

The Government is also providing substantial funding to assist regions to drive enterprise activity, promote regional growth and create jobs. Up to €180 million in funding is being made available over the coming months and years to underpin and drive the implementation of the REPs. And to date, my Department, through Enterprise Ireland (EI), has already made available over €126 million in regional enterprise development funding to assist locally-led regional enterprise development projects throughout the country. With regard to this, in the past few years, the South-East has been successful in being awarded funding, including:

Eight projects in the South-East region were funded under the Regional Enterprise Development Fund (REDF), securing €7.6m in grant funding. This includes an award of some €250k to the Tradebridge Collaboration DAC for a project that creates new opportunities for EI and LEO clients to generate export sales and to open opportunities for the three South East Ports.

Two projects in the South-East region were funded under the Regional Enterprise Transition Scheme (RETS), totalling €206k in grant funding. The RETS was introduced to assist previously funded projects negatively affected by Covid-19, as well as a consequence of Brexit.

Eight projects in the South-East region have secured funding under the Regional Enterprise Innovation Scoping Scheme (REISS), totalling €785k. This includes a priming grant for the High Performance Building Alliance DAC’s project to develop an innovation hub and centre of excellence focused on Green Technologies at Enniscorthy Technology Park. The REISS aims to provide priming and feasibility funding support to develop a credible pipeline of eligible projects.

IDA Ireland markets Wexford as part of the South-East Region (Waterford, Wexford, Carlow, and Kilkenny). The South-East region has 79 FDI client companies who collectively employ 14,932 (Annual Employment Survey 2021). The main sectoral clusters are in high value manufacturing (Pharmaceutical, Medical Devices and Engineering) along with International Financial Services and these clusters form a magnet of attraction for further FDI to the South-East Region, including Wexford.

In this respect, Wexford is home to 25 existing IDA Ireland clients who between them employ almost 3,750 people in a range of manufacturing and service operations, an increase of 610 jobs since 2018 (IDA Annual Employment Surveys 2018, 2021). This is evidenced by a number of recent expansions as well as the establishment of a number of new name companies.

With regard to Rosslare Europort, the IDA recognises how it has grown its share of freight traffic from Ireland to Europe in recent years (The Irish Maritime Development Office Q1 2022 Report), and represents an essential strategic element of the South-East value proposition.

I believe that through the South-East REP, in tandem with the work of EI and IDA, my Department and its agencies are supporting Wexford and the entire South-East in securing direct foreign and indigenous investment for the region.