Millions in funding for major Kerry projects
FIVE KERRY PROJECTS INCLUDED IN €14.3 MILLION DEVELOPMENT PLAN
A GLOBAL agri-tech centre of excellence in Causeway and a media innovation hub in Dingle are set to share in millions of Euro in State grants under the Southern Region Enterprise Development Fund.
They are two of five projects in Kerry that were included when the Government announced details on Monday of 11 projects across the southern region that are to receive €14.3 million in funding.
Kerry will be the biggest beneficiary in the region with five of the projects solely or partially based in the county. They are expected to receive combined funding of over €6 million
The other Kerry projects included in the funding package are an RDI Hub in Killorglin; the Tralee based employment promotional organisation SciTech; and a new Digital Hub in Sneem.
The agri-tech training and research facility will be developed in conjunction with Dairymaster and the Institute of Technology Tralee. The investment in the ‘Mol Teic’ Creation and Innovation Hub in Dingle is expected to create 200 jobs in the next five years.
FIVE projects in Kerry are set to share in millions of Euro in state grants under the Southern Region Enterprise Development Fund.
On Monday the Government announced details of 11 projects across the southern region that will receive €14.3 million in finding.
Kerry will be the biggest beneficiary with five of the projects solely or partially based in the county compared with two in Cork and one each in Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford and Carlow.
The Kerry projects included in the funding package are an Agritech Centre of Excellence in Causeway; an RDI Hub in Killorglin; the Tralee based promotional organisation SciTech; the Dingle Creativity and Innovation Hub ‘Mol Teic’ and the Sneem Digital Hub.
The Agritech and RDI projects are each set to receive funding of between €2 million and €5 million while the porjects in Dingle, Sneem and Tralee will each receive between €50,000 and €250,000.
Killorglin international financial services company Fexco; Causeway based global agri-tech firm Dairymaster and Institute of Technology Tralee are key partners in three of the projects that are to receive funding.
While the exact figures remain unknown, the five Kerry projects are expected to benefit from combined funding of €6 million to €7 million.
The funding package will be provided by the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, through Enterprise Ireland and forms a key part of the Government’s Regional Action Plan for Jobs and its Action Plan for Rural Development.
Kerry TD and Junior Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Brendan Griffin welcomed the funding which he said would help drive jobs growth in the county
“In this year’s Action Plan for Jobs, we made the decision to place a specific focus on strengthening the rural and regional economy. To stimulate regional growth as we move towards 2020, we announced a €60 million competitive Regional Enterprise Development Fund over two calls,” said Minister Griffin.
“Our aim was to provide financial support for organisations set up specifically to bring together stakeholders on projects that will benefit the local community, the region or nationally. The successful applicants include an exciting range of projects which will develop strong entrepreneurial or innovation ecosystems, encourage clusters of similar businesses, or develop specific sectors where there is the potential for competitive advantage,” he said.
“By creating jobs in rural areas, we can convince young people to live in rural areas,” said Minister Griffin.“I wish the successful applicants every success and urge companies in Kerry to consider applying for the second round of funding early next year.”
“In the last 12 months, four out of five jobs created were outside Dublin and the Live Register figures in all of our regions are heading in the right direction. But there’s still a long way to go,” he added.
The state funding announcement follows a recent decision by Kerry County Council to set aside €600,000 in its 2018 Budget to assist in the development of key economic projects in the county in keeping with the objectives of the South West Regional Action Plan for Jobs and the council’s own strategic economic development objectives.