James Bannon
Question:245. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in County Longford; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26704/14]
View answerTuesday, 24 June 2014
Questions (245, 246)
James Bannon
Question:246. Deputy James Bannon asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to increase the number of manufacturing jobs in County Westmeath; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26705/14]
View answerWritten answers
I propose to take Questions Nos. 245 and 246 together.
The Forfás Strategy for the Manufacturing Sector, which I commissioned and which was published last year, identified that an additional 20,000 jobs can be created in the sector by 2016. To this end, the enterprise agencies and other relevant players have been tasked with working to enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing in Ireland by working with companies and implementing the recommendations in the Strategy. That sector lost 50,000 jobs in the years up to 2010 but at the end of 2013, there were a total of 215,900 people directly employed in the sector, which was an increase of 10,000 on the numbers identified at the time the Strategy was published. This sector also supports a similar number of jobs indirectly. The Strategy does not identify specific location around the country for the expansion of the sector. In addition to that Strategy, I also initiated another, complementary, research project on issues relating to skills needs, and that report entitled “The Future Skills Needs of the Manufacturing Sector to 2020 ” was published by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs/Forfás at the same time. Implementation of this report is also in hand
A particularly attractive feature of manufacturing in Ireland is the fact that many of the present jobs are not in the main urban areas, but dispersed into regional locations, thereby providing a valuable employment focus in areas where alternative jobs are scarce. The further development of the sector will, of course, build on this key feature.
Key tasks from both reports have been incorporated into the Action Plan for Jobs, which includes a series of actions to develop the sector. It is also relevant that the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 includes a commitment to develop a framework for a Regional Enterprise Strategy to better integrate the efforts of the enterprise development agencies and other regional stakeholders in supporting enterprises. I intend that the framework will be developed on a pilot basis initially, focusing on the Midlands region, and involving the agencies under the remit of this Department – Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices. The objective is to enhance synergies between the agencies and their client companies and build on the competitive strengths of the region to maximise the potential for job creation. The role which other public bodies in the region can play in working towards this objective will also be examined as the project develops. My aim is that this framework will serve as a model for other regions of the country.
In addition, IDA Ireland’s current 5 year strategy "Horizon 2020" expires at the end of 2014 and the agency is currently in the process of developing a new strategy from 2015 onwards. To assist in the development of such a strategy I have asked Forfás to undertake an in depth analysis of Ireland’s FDI strategy to take account of factors such as key trends emerging in FDI best practice internationally, Ireland’s strengths in attracting FDI and the changes in EU state aid rules, which come into effect on I July 2014. These two exercises will form the basis of IDA Ireland’s strategy from 2015 onwards.