Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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83. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide the unemployment figures for County Clare including a comparison with the figures nationally; the actions he will take to further create jobs in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60455/22]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Central Statistics Office's Labour Force Survey is the official source of unemployment estimates in the State. Due to the methodology of the survey, unemployment rates are not available for individual counties. The Q3 employment rate for the Mid-West region, comprising counties Clare, Limerick and Tipperary, was 4.5%.  This aligns with the national unemployment rate for the same period, which was also 4.5%. 

The Minister for Social Protection has informed me that the Live Register figures for County Clare were 4,957 in the week ending 13th November. The national Live Register figures for that week were 181,994.

My department is working in collaboration with our enterprise agencies to grow and sustain employment in all regions of the country, including County Clare and the wider Mid-West region. The Department is overseeing implementation of nine Regional Enterprise Plans (REPs), including for the Mid-West. Each REP is developed by regional stakeholders and focuses on undertaking collaborative initiatives that can help strengthen the regional enterprise ecosystem to realise enterprise growth and job creation. We have secured up to €145m in regional enterprise funding over the coming years from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to drive implementation of the Regional Enterprise Plans.

Clare has witnessed an 11% increase in employment in overseas companies since 2012.  Over 680 net new jobs were added to the county's Foreign Direct Investment portfolio during this period. There are now 6,924 people employed across 71 multinational companies in Clare.  Recent investments of scale have been in the Technology, Med Tech, Pharma and Financial Services sectors, with announcements from companies like Beckman Coulter, Edwards Lifesciences, Exida and Element Six.

Clare benefits from direct and indirect employment generated by IDA Ireland client companies located in bordering counties, with over 150 IDA Ireland client companies in the Mid-West Region. Over the past five years employment among IDA Ireland clients increased by 27%, rising to 25,270. IDA Ireland is targeting 76 investments for the Mid-West Region in the period 2021-2024.

IDA Ireland engages with Clare County Council, Shannon Commercial Properties and other property owners and stakeholders on their development plans, and markets sites and property solutions across the Mid-West region through its extensive overseas network. 

Enterprise Ireland's Powering the Regions plan was developed in response to recent Government regional initiatives. It provides an overarching national plan underpinned by nine regional plans, to grow and sustain jobs, and to expand the reach of the Enterprise Ireland client base in every county and region in Ireland. The plan proposes six new national initiatives which will drive enhanced productivity and resilience, new entrepreneurship, develop urban centres of growth, support the expansion of scaling companies into the regions and attract foreign direct investment in the food sector. The plan sets out a number of initiatives in the Mid-West region including the following in Clare:

- Support the development of the Clare Maritime Economic Zone on the Shannon Estuary to deliver training, research and a testbed for the maritime and cruise-liner sector. 

- Develop Shannon’s Emerald Aviation Cluster to capitalise on global opportunities in aircraft manufacturing. Increase the market share for global sub-supply in aircraft manufacturing.

As of 2021, Enterprise Ireland supported 94 individual companies in Clare, with total employment of 4,286. 545 gross new jobs were created in Enterprise Ireland assisted companies in Clare in 2021 and there have been some significant jobs announcements in the county recently:

- Vitalograph, an EI client, which produces respiratory diagnostic devices, has announced significant investments for Clare and Limerick. It will see the company expand by opening a new site in Limerick city centre and at Clare Technology Park, which will see it take on an extra 200 employees.

- Shannon Technical Services announced 80 jobs to be created by the end of 2023.

- Future Mobility Campus Ireland launched and opened their new hub in Shannon in 2022.  This ERDF project is creating and delivering future mobility testbed facilities for stimulating research, development and innovation in the area of Autonomous Connected Electric Shared Vehicles in Ireland.

The Local Enterprise Offices are a ‘first-stop-shop’ for providing advice and guidance, financial assistance and training to those wishing to start or grow their own business and act as a ‘signposting’ service for all government supports available to the SME sector.  They promote entrepreneurship, foster business start-ups, and develop existing micro and small businesses to drive job creation and to provide accessible high-quality supports for entrepreneurs. In 2021, LEO Clare supported 230 businesses in employing 1,330 people, this represents a net increase of 153 jobs on the previous year.