Government developing new Enterprise Plan for Dublin

2nd June 2021

Plan will set out how Dublin region will recover from pandemic

Climate action and digitalisation will feature heavily in new plan

The Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar TD is meeting with the Dublin Chamber of Commerce, local authorities, TU Dublin and government agencies today to kick off the development of a new Regional Enterprise Plan for the Dublin region.

There will be 9 new Regional Enterprise Plans for the country, as part of the Government’s commitment to bring good jobs and a strong post-pandemic economic recovery to every part of Ireland.

The Tánaiste said:

“We are developing new, region specific economic recovery plans for the entire country. These plans will help businesses to not only rebuild after what has been an incredibly challenging few months, but also to look forward and prepare for the future. Our objective is long-term, secure employment in every part of the country.

“We are kicking off the process for the Dublin region today. Dublin is internationally recognised as a leader in areas such as digital and internet services, financial services, international education and life-sciences. However, there is no doubt that Covid-19 has had a really negative impact on some businesses with the pandemic having a ‘hollowing out’ effect on the city centre especially.

“As well as helping businesses rebuild after Covid-19, we also need to look further ahead to the future. Climate action and the rise of digitalisation will continue to have a really transformative effect in the years to come. We need to look at how we stay ahead, make the most of the opportunities available, while also preparing for the challenges they bring.

“We are very much taking a bottom up approach, it will be led by local business leaders and those that work and live in the region. It will be the same for all nine of the Regional Enterprise Plans, as we are in the process of refreshing all of them.

“I’d like to welcome Susan Spence, Co-founder of SoftCo who is the new Chairperson guiding the development of the Dublin region’s Plan. I know Susan’s experience and energy will be a huge benefit to the development of this new Plan for the Dublin region.”

The refresh of the Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 is a commitment in the Programme for Government and an important element in the Government’s National Economic Recovery Plan published yesterday. Nine Plans have commenced preparation around the country. A new National Oversight Group, jointly chaired by Ministers English and Troy, has been established to oversee the development of the new Plans and to monitor their implementation at National level through until 2024.

Minister for Business, Employment and Retail, Damien English TD said:

“With the challenges facing us, it is timely to reassess and repurpose these Enterprise plans across all regions so that we can ensure sustainable economic recovery and continue to build on the region strengths and opportunities for the benefit of local businesses, jobs and communities.” 

Minister for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation, Robert Troy TD said:

“In developing the new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024, our focus is on a process that enables local stakeholders from both the public and private sectors to collaborate and work together on initiatives that target areas for improvement and deliver on opportunities specific to each region. Given the past year, I believe we can offer some hope and purpose to the businesses and communities in each region with these new Enterprise Plans and chart a course for a recovery for the whole country.”

The new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 will see each region delivering a prioritised enterprise action plan over a three-year period. Through these Plans, the Government wants to create the conditions for entrepreneurs to start and scale their businesses, new investment and business growth, and increased employment in every region.

Since 2017, the Government has awarded over €117m in funding through Enterprise Ireland for collaborative enterprise strengthening projects around the country, which support the aims and objectives of the Regional Plans to date.

The new Regional Enterprise Plans are expected to be launched in Q3 2021.

Notes to Editors

The nine Regional Steering Committees established by the Government are implementing Regional Enterprise Plans. The current Regional Plans are structured around a small number of agreed longer term ‘Strategic Objectives’ for enterprise development for their region, together with a two-year work programme to progress actions which deliver to the objectives. The current Plans concluded at the end of 2020 and the preparation of new Regional Enterprise Plans to 2024 is underway in each of the nine regions.

Nine Progress Reports on implementation of the Regional Enterprise Plans were completed in early 2020 and are available on the Department’s website at Publications - Regional Enterprise Plans and a final Year 2 Progress Report for each region will be published in the coming weeks. The Progress Reports show that the model has impact and that actions delivered are complementary and add value to the mainstream interventions of the enterprise agencies and other bodies working to enable enterprise development at a regional level.

ENDS

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