Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

410. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his plans to support employment in Monaghan town following the closure of a business (details supplied) to ensure that vital employment it provided; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17016/25]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department, through its Agencies, is committed to supporting employment in Monaghan town following recent job losses at Lakeland’s Dairy Creamery.

Enterprise Ireland is focused on creating new jobs by supporting entrepreneurs in manufacturing and internationally traded services, as well as companies setting up High Potential Start-Up Companies. Additionally, Enterprise Ireland aims to retain and create new jobs in existing companies and enhance Ireland's innovation capability at both national and regional levels through research support in companies and third-level institutions.

To foster new start-ups, Enterprise Ireland provides incubation spaces on college campuses and Community Enterprise Centres. They offer a range of supports for SMEs, including financial assistance, business and marketing advice, mentoring, product development, and management training. One key initiative is the Dynamic Leadership – Roadmap to Growth programme, delivered in partnership with Dublin City University, which equips senior leadership teams of Irish SMEs with the tools and strategies needed for sustainable growth and international expansion.

Collaboration with Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) is crucial in delivering support to businesses, growing the number of Irish exporters, and backing job creation nationwide. Enterprise Ireland also works with regional partners to strengthen the enterprise ecosystem and infrastructure, supporting increased enterprise collaboration through cluster and network development.

Through various funding streams, including the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and the Border Enterprise Development Fund, Enterprise Ireland continues to support projects in the North East region, driving job creation, scale, and export potential. In Monaghan, several projects have been funded to foster industry collaboration, build digital capability, support biotechnology research, and provide start-up co-working spaces and remote working supports.

Last year Enterprise Ireland supported 7,644 jobs across 127 client companies, creating 270 new jobs.

My Department oversees the implementation of nine Regional Enterprise Plans (REPs) including for the North-East Region which covers counties Cavan, Louth and Monaghan. The REPs are driven by regional stakeholders and focus on undertaking collaborative projects that help strengthen the regional enterprise ecosystem. The current plans were extended last year to run until the end of 2025. The North-East REP includes five strategic objectives and ten actions. A Mid-Term Progress Report was published in 2024 on the department’s website which provides updates on implementation across each strategic objective.

Since 2017 the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment has approved regional enterprise development funding of over €150 million through a variety of schemes and funds administered by Enterprise Ireland. The North-East counties of Cavan, Monaghan and Louth secured over €11.6 million approved funding for innovative enterprise projects under the Regional Enterprise Development Fund and €8.7 million for projects under the Border Enterprise Development Fund. These projects are across the Engineering, Financial Services, Sustainability and GreenTech, and Life Sciences sectors, including €6.2 million for the BioConnect Innovation Centre, and €3.8 million for a Digital Innovation Hub at DKIT.

The Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme (SREIS), co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), was launched in October 2023. The overall objective of this scheme is to drive job creation and enterprise development in each region and to support projects aligned to the nine Regional Enterprise Plans. The scheme includes four streams supporting local enterprise infrastructure, innovation clusters, innovation services to SMEs and early-stage feasibility and priming research. The Scheme remains open for applications on the EI website and EI is available to support all potential applicants.

Last year, LEO Monaghan supported 1,006 jobs across 170 client companies, creating 163 new jobs through direct grant assistance. The LEO Annual Employment Survey only accounts for LEO clients that have received direct financial grant assistance from their LEO and does not include the number of small businesses and associated jobs that have received training, mentoring or other supports such as the Grow Digital Voucher, Green for Business, Lean for Business, Digital for Business and Energy Efficiency Grants (EEG).

While the IDA has 7 client companies in Monaghan employing 258, the county had a -33 net impact for any new jobs created.

The new IDA Strategy, "Adapt Intelligently: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Innovation", which was launched in February, is targeting 550 from a total of 1,000 investments over the lifetime of the strategy to regional locations. This ambitious target will require continued investment in IDA’s Regional Property Programme which ensures the continued supply of land, buildings and infrastructure in regional locations to meet the needs of current and prospective IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Local Enterprise Office clients.