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Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy, today launched the North-West Regional Enterprise Plan (REP) to 2024, in Sligo.
The North-West REP, covering counties Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo, is 1 of 9 new enterprise plans throughout the country which will be funded by up to €180 million. This funding will drive the implementation of the Plans which will develop and implement collaborative and innovation enterprise projects in the regions and support sustainable jobs.
The REPs have been developed using a ‘bottom up’ approach by people who have a real stake in their community. This model makes the Plan unique and responsive to the opportunities and needs of the region, with a focus on regional collaboration.
Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy, outlined the importance of the Plan, saying:
"I am delighted to be in Sligo today to launch the North-West Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024. Congratulations to Seamus Hughes, Chair of the North-West Steering Committee, Anne McTernan, North-West Programme Manager and the Steering Committee members for delivering this new plan for the region.
"Over the past year the enterprise community from across Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo came together to develop ambitious, achievable objectives to capitalise on the unique strengths and seize the opportunities for the North-West. The Plan reflects the region’s huge appetite to build a balanced regional recovery, one that is focused on future enterprise development and sustainable job creation for the longer term.
"I was determined to ensure that funding will be made available to drive the Regional Enterprise Plans and I am very pleased that we have secured up to €180 million in funding over the coming years. This is necessary for the development of collaborative regional projects that will drive delivery of the objectives developed in this North-West Plan. I look forward to working with Seamus and the Committee throughout implementation."
Delivering balanced regional growth is a stated objective within the Programme for Government and in the Economic Recovery Plan 2021. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment contributes to the regional agenda in a number of ways, including through the enterprise agencies, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland; the Local Enterprise Offices and through national enterprise policy.
Chair of the North-West Regional Steering Committee, Seamus Hughes said:
"I would like to thank Minister Troy for his visit to Sligo today for our launch of the North-West Regional Enterprise Plan. I would like to acknowledge his support and involvement during the consultation process which was key in ensuring momentum and engagement was maintained in the region. Additionally, our steering committee members, previous Chair Philip Martin of CORA Systems and the private companies in the region who inputted to the development of the plan.
"Coming out of the consultation process, we have an impactful Enterprise Plan for the North-West focused on a number of key areas including recognising our regions unique border location and encouraging our enterprises transition to low carbon as well as focusing on strengthening our SME ecosystem while supporting some of our key growth sectors including the wind energy sector, blue economy and creative economy.
"I am now looking forward to a successful and impactful implementation period."
9 new REPs to 2024 have been developed throughout 2021 by Regional Steering Committees. Each Regional Committee is chaired by a senior figure from the private sector and include the Enterprise Agencies, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, Local Enterprise Offices, Local Authorities, Regional Assemblies, higher and further education bodies and others. The plans also complement Our Rural Future, the whole-of-government framework to develop rural Ireland in the coming years.
Because of their regional nature, the Plans bring a focus and collaborative effort to address specific regional ecosystem gaps and act on the strengths and opportunities unique to each region, adding value to and complementing the ongoing work of the individual enterprise agencies and development bodies in the region.
The North-West Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024 includes the following Strategic Objectives:
1: Harness the potential of micro, small and medium indigenous businesses in the North-west region through encouraging entrepreneurship and scaling of existing businesses.
2: Ensure that the North-West capitalizes on the enterprise opportunities posed by the advancement of the wind industry (onshore/offshore wind) and the continued growth of the Ocean economy.
3: Develop the offering of the North-West region as a place to work and invest high value jobs in.
4: Assist the North-West's enterprises to mainstream climate action and transition to a low carbon into their business planning and delivery.
5: Recognising the North-West’s strategic border location, encourage the ongoing development of cross border relationships and Shared Island initiatives to further the enterprise agenda in the North-West.
6: By harnessing the partnerships available to the REP’s Committee, assist the Regional Skills Forum and other agencies in addressing the skills issue encountered by enterprises in the North-West.
| Region | County |
| Midlands | Offaly |
| Laois | |
| Westmeath | |
| Longford | |
| North-East | Louth |
| Cavan | |
| Monaghan | |
| North-West | Donegal |
| Sligo | |
| Leitrim | |
| Mid-East | Kildare |
| Meath | |
| Wicklow | |
| West | Galway |
| Mayo | |
| Roscommon | |
| Mid-West | Clare |
| Limerick | |
| Tipperary | |
| South-East | Carlow |
| Kilkenny | |
| Waterford | |
| Wexford | |
| South-West | Cork |
| Kerry | |
| Dublin | Dublin |
| Project | REDF funding | RETS funding | Project description | |
| Donegal Digital Innovation CLG | €1,119,640 | n/a | n/a | Creation of an Innovation Ecosystem through a 3-year Enterprise Capacity Building Programme |
| Leitrim County Enterprise Fund | €1,284,000 | n/a | n/a | Three Digital and innovation Hubs |
| Leitrim Food Enterprise Zone | €953,640 | n/a | n/a | Development of a Food Enterprise Zone to create an infrastructure and support hotspot to cluster and grow food companies |
| Sligo County Enterprise CLG | €1,906,640 | n/a | n/a | Development of a 12,000 sq. ft Strand Campus for Digital Gaming and Associated Tech |
| The Leitrim Design House CLG | €371,600 | n/a | n/a | A digital hub with co- Development of a creative cluster to support and grow creative enterprises within Sligo, Leitrim, and Roscommon |
| Donegal County Council | n/a | €3,663,193 | n/a | This project is a development of a purpose built, high tech workspace facility in Letterkenny which will include a bespoke pre-accelerator programme for early idea entrepreneurs along with a programme of wrap-around supports for businesses |
| ERNACT | n/a | €348,504 | n/a | The proposed Innovation-as-a-Service or IaaS is a new service that enables innovation hubs to effectively manage the delivery of customised technology transfer solutions to their client SMEs from universities, institutes of technology and private sector companies |
| Manorhamilton Innovation and Development CLG | n/a | €2,945,475 | €816,840 | This project is an Innovation and R&D Centre for the Quarry and Construction industry under Industry 4.0 focussing on robotics and cobotics, artificial intelligence and smart data, virtual reality, augmented reality, 3 D industry Printing, software development to develop new prototypes or products and upskill staff, within both industries |
| Sligo Leitrim ITS Regional Development Projects DAC | n/a | €1,919,974 | n/a | Drogheda Digital Innovation Hub (DDIH) for high-potential tech projects seeking to start and grow |
| Total | €5,635,520 | €8,877,146 | €816,840 | TOTAL FUNDING: €15,329,506 |