COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

south dublin county council crest

MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL

Monday, July 13, 2009

QUESTION NO. 14

QUESTION: Councillor E. Walsh 2009

 To ask the Manager to present an update to the Council on his proposals to assist Job Creation in the County?

Reply.

Economic Development and job creation is primarily delivered by our collaborative approach to inter agency work which is channelled through the  Economic Development Working Group of County Development Board.  This group comprises of representatives from the Council, South Dublin chamber of Commerce, Dodder Valley Partnership, CPLN Partnership, FAS, South Dublin County Enterprise Board, Community Platform and the IDA.  This group is mandated through the County Strategy to:-

South Dublin Chamber was nominated by the County Development Board as the lead agent for the development of the Economic Strategy.  This strategy was adopted by the County Development Board at its meeting on the 28th of November 2008, following a consultative process undertaken earlier in 2008 and was launched in February 2009.  The strategy identifies seventeen opportunities for the County to further economic progress and activity.

Further to the CDB working group the Economic Development Department actively engages with its state partners, such as the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to seek and attract new investment into the County.  By working in partnership with the agencies the Council has successfully attracted a number of high profile multi-national companies to its Business Park in Grange Castle over the last number of years particularly Wyeth, Takeda, Aryzta (IAWs) an Microsoft.  The Council is continuing to explore with our partner IDA every opportunity to encourage FDI, to the County and to the wider Dublin Region.

The Council also seeks to support start up indigenous businesses and the small to medium enterprise sector, again in conjunction with our partners, through the provision and support of enterprise centres in the County.  A large number of businesses, circa 101, employing approximately 275 people, are currently located in enterprise centres developed by the Council over the years.  The Council is currently looking at a joint venture with Enterprise Ireland to identify and develop a site that would be suitable for indigenous businesses that are currently located in the enterprise centres but are seeking to expand.  This would allow current businesses to further develop and also afford an opportunity to new start up companies to establish themselves in supported premises.

2009 is the year of Creativity & Innovation and the Council along with other stakeholders, such as the Institute of Technology, FAS, Department of Social Welfare, County Enterprise Board and the area based Partnership are examining a number of projects that will identify sectors at risk within in the County, risk assess the prominent employment categories and develop interventions and programmes that will help to foster the entrepreneurial spirit of its citizens to encourage new business and job creation within the County.

One such programme is the following Intellectual Enterprise Zone Initiative:-

It is proposed to set up a network of intellectual enterprise zones throughout the county where individuals can use the space on a ‘time share basis’ to run and operate their business and where persons on the live register can develop added value skills.  In tandem with the physical space it is proposed to develop a virtual business campus or intellectual enterprise zones where research can be carried out into the cost of doing business and innovative new technologies will be pursued with a view to creating new business opportunities.  This space will also afford participants to engage in a community of practice and network with like minded individuals.  The web presence be an interactive space where participants in the programme can feedback their observations, ask questions, register for various training programmes, interact with colleagues and book time/space in the Intellectual Enterprise Zone work space.  A feedback form on the open day is being developed as part of this work and will be circulated to all participants for their input.

The physical zones will be clustered at key locations throughout the County, namely in town centre locations with access to public infrastructure such as the LUAS.  The zones will initially be located in public buildings such as County Hall, Tallaght and the Civic Centre in Clondalkin and other community facilities throughout the County.

Scoping of ideas and meeting with Stakeholders

Initial meetings have been held with the Dublin Regional Director of FAS to scope out the possibility of designing specific interventions for those on the live register that are highly skilled and/or professionally qualified.  Meetings were also held with the managers of the Dodder Valley Partnership and Liffey Valley Partnerships to examine possible initiatives for medium and low skilled workers currently on the live register.  The County Enterprise Board and Chamber of Commerce have also been actively engaged examining businesses currently in the County and the barriers/opportunities to doing business effectively.

Subsequent meetings have been held with the local manager of Employment Services and manager of the Local Training Centre of FAS to begin to design a specific intervention.  The proposed scheme will follow the template of a LTI (Local training initiative) course where SDCC will be the corporate sponsors.

The courses will be delivered on site in SDCC’s facilities (training suite, library, digital media centre), designed by SDCC and funded by FAS.  The aim of the course will be to give highly skilled professionals new skills in the areas of technology, business management and entrepreneurial skills with a view to aiding individuals establish themselves as a SME.  In tandem with this specific intervention a piece of research will also be undertaken to examine the cost of doing business in the County and to look at ways to work smarter.

Attendees at the course will be invited to participate in forming research cells in their particular areas of expertise with a view to determining new and innovative ways to drive down the cost of doing business.

Following on from the series of meetings a working group has been established under the County Development Board to progress the actions as identified.  An open day was also planned to engage directly with a targeted group on the live register to gauge the level of interest in such a programme. 

Targeting the demographic

The initial programme was specifically targeted at those individuals currently on the live register that are highly skilled and/or professionally qualified.  Working in collaboration with the manager of the local Social Welfare Office we have extracted from the 100 categories of professions/jobs on their database those categories which equate to highly skilled and/or professional job categories. 

 Social Welfare sent a mail shot (attached) directly to six hundred individuals from the following professions/skills:-

·        engineers & technologists

·         teachers

·        legal professionals

·        financial professionals

·        IT professionals

·        quantity surveyors

·        architects

Informing them of this initiative and directed those interested to register on line at http://www.southdublin.ie/enterprisezone/enterprisezone-openday.html.  We had sixty registrations expressing an interest in attending the open day.  Following the registration process those interested were invited to upload their skills profile and outline what specific supports and/or training they feel they might require to facilitate their return to the workforce. 

Interventions are also being examined and designed for the groups that fall into medium and low skill occupations.  These initiatives are being led by the Dodder Valley Partnership and the Liffey Valley Partnership.

Further to these specific initiatives, SDCC in partnership with The Synergy Centre, IT Tallaght will conduct research into the cost of doing business, barriers to setting up business in the County and the factors influencing a small company’s decision to remain in business, re-locate or fold.  This research will be conducted by way of an online questionnaire hosted on www.sdublincoco.com and will be targeted at the 300 (approx.) SME’s that have graduated through Synergy’s training and mentoring programmes.  Synergy will contact all alumni of their programme and encourage them to participate in the research.

Open day

The open day was held on April 30th inst and fifty participants attended.  The programme for the day outlined the following:-

The speakers on the day were representative of SDCC, FAS and Social Welfare.  There was excellent interaction on the day and the participants were afforded the opportunity to feedback their observations and thoughts on the open day, some of which was voiced on the day and others chose to send feedback through email.

 Inter Agency Coordinator & web presence

An inter agency coordinator has been engaged by the CDB to progress the project.  They have been tasked with establishing the working group and ensuring representation from all stakeholders. Further to this the coordinator is working with the Council’s IT department to develop the web presence that will seek to engage with participants in the programme.  It is envisaged that this web presence will be an interactive space where participants in the programme can feedback their observations, ask questions, register for various training programmes, and interact with colleagues and book time/space in the Intellectual Enterprise Zone work space which is now being fitted out and will be available shortly

  Next steps