Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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Regional enterprise development is an established core element of the enterprise policy landscape, and the Regional Enterprise Plans are among the primary tools to operationalise this policy priority. The Plans are an integral part of the broader policy system aimed at driving economic growth and sustaining better standards of living throughout Ireland.

The current set of Regional Enterprise Plans were launched in 2022 and will run until the end of 2024.

There are nine Plans covering the North-West (Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim), North-East (Louth, Cavan, Monaghan), South-East (Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Waterford), Dublin, Mid-East (Meath, Kildare, Wicklow), Midlands (Laois, Offaly, Longford, Westmeath), South-West (Cork, Kerry), Mid-West (Limerick, Clare, Tipperary), and West (Galway, Mayo, Roscommon).

The main principle underpinning the Plans is that of collaboration between regional stakeholders on initiatives that can help to realise each region’s enterprise development potential. This collaboration allows the Plans to be informed by an understanding of unique local strengths and assets and to have the potential to enable more effective translation of national policy into regional impact. The Plans are not meant to be comprehensive economic development strategies on their own. The Plans include specific strategic objectives and over 200 associated actions requiring a collaborative regional effort; one plan has as many as 48 distinct actions.

Each of the nine Plans were developed ‘by the region, for the region’ by relevant enterprise-focused stakeholders. However, my Department highlighted several national policy challenges for each Steering Committee to consider as part of the preparation of the Plans, including enabling recovery and building enterprise resilience in the context of COVID-19; addressing the twin transition imperative for enterprises to digitalise and decarbonise; improving competitiveness through effective place-making; and capitalising on existing and emerging sectoral strengths and capabilities through smart specialisation. Furthermore, the Plans are agile documents that can be adapted to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise. As an example of this, Steering Committees are currently considering how their Plans may contribute to the major enterprise opportunities arising from the development of offshore wind (where this is not already sufficiently covered by existing activity under the Plan).

In terms of implementation, each Regional Enterprise Plan is overseen by a Steering Committee of regional stakeholders and chaired by a senior private sector businessperson. The Steering Committees are supported by a Regional Enterprise Plan Programme Manager in each of the nine regions although there are some vacancies being carried at present. The role of the Programme Manager is critical to the successful implementation of the Regional Enterprise Plans as they are chiefly responsible for driving implementation and stakeholder engagement on the ground in each region.

The Deputy may be aware that my Department has secured up to €145m in funding for the Smart Regions Enterprise Innovation Scheme, co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund, to develop and expand regional enterprise projects aligned to the Regional Enterprise Plans. The first call of €35m is now open and there will be further calls in the coming years. This follows on from previous regional enterprise development funding provided by my Department.

My Department is responsible for monitoring implementation of the Regional Enterprise Plans at the national level. Minister Coveney, Minister Calleary and I chair the Regional Enterprise Plans National Oversight Group (NOG), which is made up of the Chairs of each Regional Enterprise Plan, as well as representatives from the enterprise agencies, the Local Enterprise Office network, the County and City Management Association, the Regional Assemblies and representatives from other relevant enterprise focused agencies. The last meeting of the NOG took place on 26 October 2023 and implementation was considered to be progressing well overall. It will meet next in Q2 2024.

The Chair of the Steering Committees must submit two progress reports to my Department over the lifetime of the Plans. The first progress reports documenting mid-term implementation are currently being prepared for publication and final progress reports will document implementation overall to the end of 2024. The mid-term progress reports will constitute a comprehensive action-by-action update on the implementation of each of the Regional Enterprise Plans and will be available on my Department’s website in Q1 2024.