Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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108. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment for a report on the progress made under the south east regional enterprise plan; the plans for the future funding of same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23091/24]

Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Balanced regional enterprise development is a key focus for me and this Government as set out in the White Paper on Enterprise. My Department contributes to this agenda in several ways, including through the development, implementation and oversight of nine Regional Enterprise Plans (REPs).

The South-East REP is implemented at a regional level by a Steering Committee made up of stakeholders from Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford. Patsy Carney is Chair of the South-East REP Steering Committee. I expect a Steering Committee will be organised in the coming months.

My Department oversees implementation of the REPs at the national level. A meeting of the National Oversight Group for the REPs with Steering Committee Chairpersons took place on 25 April 2024, where the REP Chairs provided feedback on implementation.

Nine REP Progress Reports were recently published, which document implementation to the end of Q3 2023 for each plan, including the South-East. These reports were prepared by the regional Steering Committees and are available on my Department’s website. Good progress has been made implementing actions across the South-East REP.

Some highlights include:

• The South-East Offshore Wind Partnership is continuing its work to prepare the region to take advantage of the economic opportunity presented by offshore wind. A best practice field trip was completed in early May to the North-East of the UK to view the full scale of the opportunity including research and development facilities, enhanced Foreign Direct Investment, indigenous companies pivoting into offshore, port development, and education and training provision.
• Several applications are under development across all four streams of Enterprise Ireland's Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme. The Scheme will support the development of innovative services through local infrastructure, innovation clusters, services to SMEs and early-stage feasibility and priming research.
• Organic marketing campaigns under the Ireland South-East brand continue; these are aimed at elevating the perception of the South-East region in the minds of investors, talent and remote workers as a place of choice to locate in. Organic campaigns represent significant value for money, for example, the Ireland South-East LinkedIn account achieved 285,000 organic impressions during the 12-month period from May 2023 solely from sharing positive news from regional industry and relevant activities.