SlaNey buSiNeSS & fiNaNaCe
South-East Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024 launched in Wexford
Launch of the Regional Enterprise Plan for the South-East at the Kent Stainless premises in Wexford, L-R: Ann O'Brien, Managing Director of Kent Stainless, Minister of State Robert Troy TD, Derek Kent, Director of Kent Stainless, and Minister James Browne TD. Pic: Mary Browne.
Minister of State for Trade Promotion, Digital and Company Regulation Robert Troy launched the South-East Regional Enterprise Plan (REP) to 2024, in Wexford, on 24th March.
mittee, Alan Quirke, South-East Programme Manager, Richard Hickey, SouthEast Programme Executive and the Steering Committee members for delivering this new plan for the region.
The South-East REP, covering counties Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford, is one of nine 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.
"Over the past year the enterprise community from across Carlow, Kilkenny, Waterford and Wexford came together to develop ambitious, achievable objectives to capitalise on the unique strengths and seize the opportunities for the South-East. 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.
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 Troy outlined the importance of the Plan, saying: "I am delighted to be in Wexford today to launch the South-East Regional Enterprise Plan to 2024. Congratulations to Patsy Carney, Chair of the South-East Steering Com-
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"I was determined to ensure that funding will be made available to drive the Regional Enterprise Plans and I am delighted to announce today funding of up to €17 million for regional enterprise projects as part of the overall €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 South-East Plan. I look forward to working with Patsy 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 South-East Regional Steering Committee, Patsy Carney, Director of Kinetic Labs said: "I would like to thank Minister Troy for his visit to Wexford today for our launch of the South-East 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. "I look forward to working closely with the Minister and Committee members as we move to implementation stage." n
