Vol. 694 No. 3
6 Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps she is taking to support the smart economy outside the major urban centres; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40927/09]
86 Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the steps she is taking to support the smart economy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40924/09]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 86 together.
My Department has made significant progress in several aspects of the smart economy framework since it was published last December. Our priorities under that initiative have been activation, support for enterprise and credit supply, while continuing our focus on strategic issues such as research and development, skills and venture capital. In addition, the report of the high level action group on green enterprise was finalised in October 2009 and submitted to Government on 3 November. The secretariat is in the process of having the report printed and it will be published shortly.
The renewed Programme for Government recognises the importance of productive public and private investment in research and development and sets a target of achieving a national investment in this area of 3% of GDP. The significant infrastructure investment underpinning the strategy for science, technology and innovation in the period to 2013 is central to economic recovery. The commercialisation of our research investment and the generation of a strong reputation for higher education and research, as well as output of quality graduates at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, will allow us to build a sustainable enterprise base underpinned by productive innovation activity across the economy.
My Department is also actively working on issues such as the merger of the Competition Authority and the National Consumer Agency and publishing whole-of-Government responses to Competition Authority reports. The business regulation group continues to clock up achievements and has processed 50% of all business suggestions for "red tape" reduction.
There are also issues that are important in the medium and longer term on which we continue to work and which are important for the move to an export-led knowledge economy. These include the continuation of downward pressure on business costs, while ensuring that world class, competitively priced infrastructure continues to be made available, including the roll-out of next generation broadband, completion of the major inter-urban road network and upgrade of the energy networks. In the context of the Government's framework for smart economy renewal, we are also committed to ensuring that the development and use of knowledge, through investment in skills, education and research and development, are at the heart of our drive to improve productivity and competitiveness levels.
Ireland retains a broad range of competitive strengths, including a young and comparatively well educated workforce, growing levels of research and development activity, a modern internationally-traded enterprise base and a long track record as an attractive location for overseas investment. Our exports have held up in certain major sectors, despite the slump in global demand, particularly in the chemicals, pharmaceutical and life science sectors. We have witnessed modest overall export growth in these sectors that contrasts with the double digit export declines of some of our trading partners.
Balanced regional development in all parts of Ireland is fundamental to the country's economic growth and recovery. Strong, balanced regional development and a thriving culture of entrepreneurship in all parts of Ireland are key strategic objectives both for the Government and my Department. This is being delivered by the enterprise development agencies, through the regional focus of Enterprise Ireland, Shannon Development and IDA Ireland, as well as the more localised focus of the city and county enterprise boards. The Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is finalising an national spatial strategy review and outlook report which will take stock of spatial strategy achievements to date and will outline remaining challenges and actions to enable the NSS to contribute to national economic renewal and enhanced competitiveness through, for example, better alignment and prioritisation of sectoral infrastructure investment, especially in the gateway cities which act as economic drivers for their wider regions.
I thank the Minister of State for his long-winded reply.
It is factual.
He did not mention the mid-west task force, which will be important in the context of the expansion of the smart economy outside Dublin.
Will he comment on the national skills bulletin? It has again highlighted this year that specialised focus is needed on IT, science, sales, marketing, health, accountancy, engineering and so on. However, a good understanding of basic maths is fundamental to this. In light of the Minister of State's role, which straddles a number of Departments, what is his view of the newspaper headline regarding a bid to sabotage Project Maths and the implications that has for our economy and the Government's proposals for a smart economy?
I am not aware of an effort to sabotage Project Maths. I am a Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science with responsibility for the third level spend on research and development and I am an enthusiastic supporter of this project. However, it is only one of a range of complementary measures needed to increase the take up of maths, particularly at higher level for the leaving certificate.
Maths is the key building block.
Only 16% of those who take the leaving certificate do higher level maths and while that is the average, according to the Pisa comparative study of uptake in higher level maths across Europe, we are not content with that. It must be leveraged much higher to increase the pipelines of qualified people to take up jobs in the smart economy of the future. We are anxious to implement further complementary measures and a robust debate is ongoing within government and industry about the concept of incentivising students to take up higher level maths. Some people favour bonus points for those who do maths while others argue robustly against that.
How about a decent syllabus?
A number of key issues must be addressed. This is Maths Week 2009 during which we are encouraging citizens and students to be enthusiastic about, and to understand, maths. Teaching inputs for this subject need to improve. It is a disappointment that a significant number of maths teachers do not have a qualification for doing so. They did not do maths as part of their degree and that is another challenge. The solution for maths must begin at primary level and be carried through to third level. It is a source of disappointment, for example, that some overseas investors say graduates who have done higher level maths are not fit for purpose.
I do not mean to be long winded in my reply and, for that reason, I did not mention the mid-west task force earlier. I would appreciate it if the Deputy tabled more focused questions.
Written Answers follow Adjournment Debate.
