An integrated approach to economic development in the west is vital if the region is to reach its potential, that is according to acting CEO of Western Development Commission (WDC ) Gillian Buckley.
Addressing the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Employment, Trade, and Innovation recently Ms Buckley said: “The west needs infrastructural and human capital investment if it is to successfully facilitate innovation and build on its key assets and strengths.” She added that the Western Region offers untapped potential to contribute significantly towards national economic recovery.
The committee heard that the key challenges facing the Western Region are the decline in construction and construction related jobs, the return of the brain drain, and the growing need for education and training. However Ms Buckley stressed “real opportunities” for growth do exist in the western economy and that the WDC, in partnership with public, private, and voluntary organisations is working to bring these opportunities to fruition by developing “coherent regional responses to the needs of the west at strategic and operational levels”.
Giving examples of just some of the growth opportunities Ms Buckley said developing the renewable energy sector will offer employment opportunities for former construction workers, and the creative sector, which employs 11,000 in the region, also offers the potential for 2,000 additional jobs.
“The challenge to optimising opportunities within these indigenous sectors is to ensure that the education and training needs of job seekers are closely aligned to the employment and enterprise opportunities in the Western Region. The Region’s most important asset is its people and because of the economic downturn, it is more critical than ever that we continue to invest in our human capital,” Ms Buckley told the committee.
Ms Buckley also spoke of the importance of venture capital (VC ) to Ireland’s economic recovery as highlighted in the Government’s ‘Building Ireland’s Smart Economy Framework’. She said: “Access to finance is a major issue for western SMEs with the Western Region receiving less than 10 per cent of private sector VC funds. The WDC’s Western Investment Fund (WIF ) addresses this market failure and to date has invested €36 million in 87 enterprises. This investment has leveraged an additional €130 million in private funding and has a job creation potential of 2,500 jobs.”
In 2010, exchequer funding for the WIF was significantly reduced and Ms Buckley reiterated the need to re-instate the budget to nurture enterprise development and jobs in the Western economy.
The WDC also outlined the importance of sustained innovation as a core long term driver of economic growth. “Irish innovation policy must support the broad concept of innovation which relates not only to new or improved products and processes but also to new ways of thinking, new marketing methodology, and new forms of business organisation. Supporting and driving innovation in the assets and strengths of the region will make a significant contribution to achieving national innovation objectives,” explained Ms Buckley.
Ms Buckley referred to OECD research which shows that if public policy supports the conditions for growth, regional economies can flourish. She advised that despite the current economic climate, investment in infrastructure, and innovation and the ‘3Es’ of enterprise, employment, and education must be maintained to drive regional and national growth.
