Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 October 2013
36. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress in implementing the Forfás report Making it in Ireland: Manufacturing 2020; the number of objectives to be delivered by quarter 3 of 2013; the progress on delivering on these goals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42577/13]
View answer46. Deputy Michael Colreavy asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the target number of additional jobs to be created in the manufacturing sector over the life time of this Oireachtas; and the number of additional manufacturing jobs created since the Government came to office. [42595/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 36 and 46 together.
The Action Plan for Jobs 2012 included a series of actions to address the Manufacturing Sector, in order to exploit the advances in manufacturing technology, and to build and maintain a strong base of manufacturing activity. This developed as a result of the challenges facing the sector and of the imperative of supporting the employment levels in that sector.
These actions derive from the Forfás Strategy for the Manufacturing sector in Ireland, entitled; Making it in Ireland: Manufacturing 2020. While employment levels have fallen, in common with every other industrialised country in Europe, we still have 205,000 directly employed in manufacturing here and, when account is taken of indirect employment, that means about 400,000 depend on manufacturing for a livelihood. This impressive statistic highlighted the need for action. A comprehensive set of actions to develop the sector was therefore set out in this Strategy, with the key items incorporated into the Action Plan for Jobs 2013.
Hence the initiation by me of two research projects - Forfás “Making it happen Manufacturing 2020” and “The Future Skills Needs of the Manufacturing Sector to 2020 ” published by the Expert Group on Future Skills. Both of these reports complement each other and will assist Government in reaching the target of creating an additional 20,000 jobs in manufacturing by 2016.
Forfás produce an Annual Employment Survey which includes yearly figures for jobs created in the manufacturing sector in Agency supported companies. These are not available on a monthly basis. According to the survey, in 2011 there was a total net increase of jobs of 4,439 and in 2012 the increase of new jobs was 2,717.
The number of objectives to be delivered under the Strategy by Quarter 3 of 2013 is 13 in total. There were eight up to Quarter 2 all of which have been implemented. The outcome for Quarter 3 is currently being collated and I am confident that the 5 Manufacturing Actions for this Quarter, some of which are the responsibility of other bodies, will also be on target. Several other Actions which are on-going in nature, and not time bound to a specific quarter, are also very satisfactorily in hand.
My Department continues to be committed to the delivery of all the Manufacturing Actions in this report.
