Minister Mitchell O’Connor publishes first progress reports on Regional Action Plans for Jobs: South East
22nd December 2016
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Ms Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD, has published the first progress report on Regional Action Plans for Jobs: South East. The progress report was prepared by the South East Regional Implementation Committee established to oversee and monitor implementation of the measures contained in the Plans. The report outline progress made on measures due for completion up to and including the first half of 2016, as well as progress made on measures that are ongoing during the period of the Action Plans.
According to the Minister, “A key objective of the Regional Plan initiative is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim of having the unemployment rate of each region within one per cent of the national average. While at an early stage, the progress reports reflect the good work made to date in the implementation of all 8 Regional APJs and creating a supportive environment for jobs growth in the regions.”
“The Plans have been embraced within the regions and completion rates for actions within the first Progress Reports are in excess of 90% for each region. Collaboration between the private and the public sector has been a core element in each plan’s development, and will be central to each plan’s delivery. Based on current data, all regions are on target to meet or exceed the job targets to be delivered by 2020.”
The Minister added, “The success of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs is crucial to the Government in meeting the ambition to create an additional 200,000 jobs, 135,000 of which are outside the Dublin region, by 2020. Overall, Employment in the State has been growing continuously for 16 quarters now and over the past year employment has grown in all regions, with 72% of all jobs created outside Dublin.”
According to the Minister, employment growth in the year to date is particularly strong in the South East (up 3.7%).
However, further efforts to drive jobs growth are required in some regions. The unemployment rate of four of the regions (Midlands: 10.1%; West 9.1%; South East: 10.4% and Border 9.2%) remains at least 1% above the State average of 8%. A continued focus on productive collaboration is required in these regions to ensure that they achieve their economic potential.
Key highlights of the South East Regional Action Plan for Jobs include:
- Over a dozen new and expanding FDI projects have been secured for the region since the launch of the Plan. These include: Bluefin Payment Systems, CipherTechs, CGM, First Data, Technopath Clinical Diagnostics, MSD, Opko, Eurofins Lancaster Laboratories and Sanofi Waterford
- The development of a new technology gateway - DESIGN+ (at IT Carlow) to complement the existing gateways (at WIT) that will provide industry with a mix of design and technical expertise to help prototype and implement new products, as well as help upgrade the industrial strengths of the region
- Enterprise Ireland has approved an investment of €2.31Mn in support of the expansion of the ArcLabs Incubation Centre at WIT, which will double the Institute’s capacity to support ICT start-ups in the region
- Enterprise Ireland has approved an investment of €2.783Mn in the South East New Frontiers Programme, which will be jointly run by IT Carlow and WIT over the next five year period;
a comprehensive programme of enterprise training and management development programmes (put in place by the LEOs in the region), aimed at assisting over 4,000 entrepreneurs to either start or develop and grow their business this year;
- 6 of the 16 projects approved in the first round of the LEO competitive fund nationally are being led by LEOs from the region in support of a number of actions listed in the Plan including projects to: develop a creative hub in the South East through an extensive networking and training programme servicing the creative industries; develop a South East Artisan cluster of fledgling food exporters; proactively prepare small businesses with potential for growth and export; develop a strong Digital Media and Gaming corridor in the region; and develop a programme to explore the potential for higher levels of innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity in agricultural technology.
- the HEA has approved funding of €1.5m to support WIT and IT Carlow to develop and implement an action plan to lead to Technological University for the south east. The two Institutes are committed to delivering a university of international standing for the region
- The South East Regional Skills Forum has been established and reciprocal representative arrangements have been agreed between the South East APJ Implementation Committee and the Forum. A number of joint project initiatives have already been scoped and are being progressed.
The Minister said: “External shocks, such as Brexit, have the potential to impact on regional job delivery in the future. However, the Plans are flexible and dynamic and can be adapted to address Brexit challenges and opportunities arising within the regions. In this context, Brexit remains a standing item on the agenda for the meetings of all Regional APJ Implementation Committees.”
The Minister concluded, “To support the regional jobs agenda, I have ensured that additional funds will be made available through the enterprise development agencies on a rolling basis out to 2020.
Last June, I announced an initial allocation of €5m in competitive funding for 48 local and regional initiatives under two of these calls. All regions benefited under this initiative.
In addition, as part of this process, my Department and Enterprise Ireland are currently finalising plans for a €40m regional funding initiative in respect of a large scale fund aimed at supporting significant innovative and collaborative projects and activities, and a further €5m competitive regional fund initiative to support the development of community-based enterprises and networks that have the potential to grow and sustain jobs in their area.
An additional, €150m is being made available to the IDA to support its Regional Property Programme and drive job creation in the multinational sector.”
Related:
Progress Report (H1 2016) - Action Plan for Jobs: South East (2162 KB)
