Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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131. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he will provide an update on the Western Regional Enterprise Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10079/23]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Delivering balanced regional growth and job creation is a core objective for me and this Government, and is a key component in the recently published White Paper on Enterprise.

My Department contributes to this agenda in a number of ways, including through oversight of development and implementation of nine Regional Enterprise Plans.

A key feature and strength of the Regional Enterprise Plans is that they are developed using a ‘bottom-up’ approach, developed by regional stakeholders who are keenly aware of the growth opportunities and vulnerabilities in their region, and of the benefits of working collaboratively.

The West Regional Enterprise Plan covers Galway, Mayo and Roscommon and was launched in Castlebar on the 4th of March last year.

Each Regional Enterprise Plan is overseen and monitored by a Steering Committee made up of regional stakeholders and chaired by a senior level private sector businessperson. The West REP Steering Committee is chaired by Evelyn O’Toole, Founder and CEO of Complete Laboratory Solution (CLS).

The Steering Committee members include representation from the Local Authorities, the Enterprise Agencies, LEOs, Regional Assemblies, Higher Education bodies and others, all of whom are focused on creating and sustaining employment opportunities for the region.

Since publication and launch, the West REP Steering Committee and Working Groups have been meeting to drive implementation of the actions.

I attended the last meeting of the Steering Committee on the 29th of November in Claremorris. At that meeting I saw the progress that has been made to date and am of the view that valuable work is being done in delivering the West Regional Enterprise Plan. Since my last visit to the West, great work has been done getting PorterShed a Dó operational. I visited PorterShed on 25th February and I was very impressed with the work being done there, also.

I can advise the Deputy that my Department is continuing to work with Enterprise Ireland to prepare the launch of the first call under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which will drive implementation of the Regional Enterprise Plans. I am keen to get this funding out to the regions as soon as possible. Due to the work of the West REP Regional Steering Committee, I strongly believe that the region is well-placed to benefit from this funding.

Finally, the Deputy may be aware that my departmental colleague, Minister Simon Coveney has recently announced that the Department intends to hold several ‘Building Better Business’ conferences around the country which will focus on the opportunities and challenges of digital transformation and decarbonisation and will showcase the government and agency supports available to small and medium enterprises.

The first of these ‘Building Better Business’ conferences will be held in the North-West on Friday, 3^rdMarch at the Letterkenny campus of the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) in Donegal. The event in the West will be held later this year.