Wednesday, 1 Jun 2016

Written Answers Nos. 219-225

Unemployment Levels

Questions (219, 220, 221, 222)

David Cullinane

Question:

219. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she is aware of the Central Statistics Office's quarterly national household survey for the first quarter of 2016, which shows dangerously high levels of unemployment in the south east at 12.5%; her views that urgent and strategic action is necessary; the details on what short, medium and long-term interventions she will take to create and sustain jobs in the region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13907/16]

David Cullinane

Question:

220. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions that have been taken by the south-east economic jobs forum set up by her predecessor; her views that given the figures contained in the Central Statistics Office's quarterly national household survey for the first quarter of 2016 of 12.5% unemployment in the region that more needs to be done; the further actions the forum intends to take; how often the forum has met since its establishment, in tabular form; the persons who sit on the forum; the actions agreed and implemented; the further actions to be delivered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13908/16]

David Cullinane

Question:

221. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions Industrial Development Agency Ireland and Enterprise Ireland will take to reduce unemployment and create employment in the south east; if they will prioritise the south east given the Central Statistics Office's quarterly national household survey for the first quarter of 2016 of 12.5% unemployment in the region; the jobs each of these organisations has created and lost in the south east in each of the years from 2013 to 2016 to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13909/16]

David Cullinane

Question:

222. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she will take to implement the recommendations in the south-east economic development strategy published by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13910/16]

Written answers

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

I propose to take Questions Nos. 219 to 222, inclusive, together.

The recent economic crisis hit the South East’s job numbers badly with the loss of 37,800 jobs from Q1 2007 to Q1 2012. However, through the focused collaborative approach and a range of reforms delivered in the region over the recent years, the unemployment rate has fallen from a peak of 20.1 per cent in Q1 2012 to 12.5 per cent in Q1 2016, with 204,400 now at work, which is an increase of 23,100 over the period.

While the unemployment rate is still too high, the figures demonstrate that the overall trend is one of steady recovery and I am working relentlessly with the various agencies and stakeholders in the South East to ensure that this trend continues and jobs are ultimately created.

The South East Economic Forum referred to by the Deputy was established to drive the recommendations of the South East Employment Action Plan, developed in late 2011. The Forum met on five occasions and its membership comprised representatives from this Department and its enterprise agencies, County Councils, the education sector, Teagasc and Fáilte Ireland, The Forum progressed a significant number of actions from the Plan. However with the development of the broader South East Regional Action Plan for Jobs, the role of the Forum was subsumed into the implementation process for that Plan and many of the organisations that were represented on the Forum continue to be involved.

I am particularly pleased that the implementation of many of the key recommendations of the South East Action Plan for Jobs and the South East Economic Development Strategy (SEEDS) reports are having a demonstrable impact on the performance of the South East region. The remaining recommendations in the Plan and some actions set out in the South East Economic Development Strategy have been incorporated into the South East Action Plan for Jobs where appropriate, and are currently being implemented through that mechanism.

The core objective of the South East Regional Action Plan for Jobs, launched in September 2015, is to support an ambitious programme of enterprise growth and job creation in the region. The primary objective of the Plan is to realise the potential to have a further 10-15 per cent at work in the region by 2020 so as to ensure the unemployment rate is within the 1 per cent of the State average.

Among the short, medium and long term actions in the Action Plan to be delivered over the period 2015-2017 include increasing Start-ups/SMEs by 30%; increasing IDA supported investments in the region; a 20% increase in jobs in exporting companies, in particular in manufacturing, agrifood, businesses services and biopharma/medtech; an 85% increase in agri-food exports over the next 10 years and delivering 300,000 extra tourists and 5,000 associated jobs. The implementation of South East Action Plan is being led by a collaborative enterprise and public sector Group, chaired by enterprise champion Frank O'Regan, with the active support of regional stakeholders, including Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. My Department is working closely with the Group as it progresses the Plan. The first progress report of the Plan will be completed and published in Q3 2016.

In relation to the IDA’s role in the South East, the Region has 71 IDA client companies who collectively employ 12,766 people. The number of jobs created and lost in IDA supported companies from 2013 to 2015 are outlined in the following table. The figures for 2016 will not be available until completion of IDA’s annual employment survey which takes place in November each year.

No of Companies	65	68	71
Total Jobs	12,003	12,462	12,766
Gross Gain	691	947	735
Gross Losses	-760	-488	-431
Net Change	-69	459	304

IDA Ireland’s strategy, WINNING Foreign Direct Investment 2015 - 2019, sets out challenging targets including a minimum of 30% to 40% increase in the number of investment for each region outside of Dublin.

Currently, IDA positions the South East in the market place as an investment location with a strong ecosystem of both indigenous and multinational companies operating across a diverse range of sectors. In particular there are strong clusters in the Life Sciences and Financial Services/Business Services sectors, as well as strong FDI Engineering manufacturing businesses, which have contributed to new significant FDI investments.

In relation to Enterprise Ireland’s role, the Agency has 524 clients in the South East region which range in size from early stage start-ups to large companies. Employment data for EI is collected annually. Therefore, it is not possible to provide employment figures for 2016 as requested by the Deputy however the job figures for the South East region for the period 2013-2015 are outlined in the following table.

Region		2013	2014	2015
South-East	PFT Jobs	15730	16485	17463
South-East	Other Jobs	1852	2126	2279
South-East	Total Jobs	17582	18611	19742
South-East	PFT Gains	1356	1863	1636
South-East	PFT Losses	1400	1108	658
South-East	PFT Change	44	755	978

In 2015, Enterprise Ireland invested €11.639m in Client Companies in the South East region. From 2011 to 2015, EI approved Innovative High Potential Support to 25 companies in the region, with over €12m of support approved. In addition, 20 start-up companies from the region secured funding of €50,000 each under the Competitive start Fund. Ongoing investment in the region, together with delivery of its suite of enterprise supports, will continue as part of Enterprise Ireland’s continued effort to drive job creation in the South East.

Intellectual Property Management

Questions (223)

Niall Collins

Question:

223. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on the recommendation made in 2013 by the copyright review committee on the need for a small claims intellectual property process as prevalent in other European Union states; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13978/16]

Written answers

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

An independent Copyright Review Committee was established by the then Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in May 2011 to examine the Irish copyright framework from the perspective of removing any obstacles to developing and growing innovation. The Report of the Copyright Review Committee entitled “Modernising Copyright” was published in October 2013. In its Report, the Committee made in excess of 60 recommendations covering a diverse range of copyright issues, including that of access to justice before the Courts, particularly for low-value claims.

Since the publication of the Report, my Department has conducted extensive analysis of the recommendations, including an in-depth assessment of the complex legal issues involved in certain of the proposals with the Office of the Attorney General, as well as examination of the proposals from a policy perspective with relevant Government Departments.

The Deputy will appreciate that in general, the issue of the jurisdiction of the courts is not an aspect that comes within my Department’s direct responsibility. Nonetheless, my officials have examined this issue with officials in the Department of Justice and Equality, to examine options to improve access to justice for lower value claims as it impacts on the area of intellectual property, for which I have responsibility.

I hope to be in a position, in coming weeks, to bring to Government the Department's response to the Committee’s recommendations and to seek approval for legislative proposals in relation to a number of the Committee's recommendations.

Job Creation Targets

Questions (224)

Niall Collins

Question:

224. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the regional job targets projected in the programme for Government for 2020 and in Enterprise 2025, by year, in tabular form; how she will achieve these and the monitoring and reporting mechanisms in place; her job targets up to 2020, by region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13979/16]

Written answers

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Ireland’s return to economic growth has demonstrated our ability, through concerted efforts across Government to focus actions on those areas that help to create jobs. We have made substantial progress since the Action Plan for Jobs process was first introduced in 2012. We can point to the considerable strides made in reducing the unemployment rate from 15.1% at the start of the Action Plan for Jobs process to 7.8 percent in May 2016, with 155,000 extra at work since early 2012.

The Programme for Government sets out a target to create an additional 200,000 jobs from over the period 2016 to 2020, informed by our statement on enterprise policy, Enterprise 2025, which set out Ireland’s potential across a number of key metrics. I am convinced that achieving our ambition for sustainable job growth will require a continued cross government focus on addressing the challenges and realising the ambition set out in Enterprise 2025.

To deliver on this ambitious target, in the Programme for Government we commit to maintaining the OECD endorsed Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) Process that will set out, on an annual basis, the best ideas for job creation within available resources. Building on this process, we are focused on ensuring that we can support new job creation in every region in the country over the next five years, through the implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs. A key objective of the plans is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020, with the aim, as set out in Enterprise 2025, of having the unemployment rate of each region within one per cent of the national average. Good progress is being made on the targets in the regional Action Plans with 44,500 extra at work in 2015.

The Regional Action Plan initiative brings the different stakeholders in each of the regions together to identify a range of innovative and practical actions, to be taken across a range of Departments and agencies, with clear timelines for delivery over the period 2015 – 2017.

Each Plan is being monitored and driven in each region by a Regional Implementation Committee, with membership drawn from industry, local authorities, Enterprise Agencies, education sector and other key stakeholders and agencies. Collaboration between the private and the public sector has been a core element in each plan’s development, and will be central to each plan’s delivery. The first Progress Reports on the implementation of the Plans, covering the period to end-June 2016, will be completed and published in Q3 2016.

The focus on job creation is a government wide agenda, and it involves:

- achieving a leap forward in the capacity and the performance of enterprises based here and in attracting further investment. We will put in place an extra €500 million in capital funding to accelerate export led jobs growth across Ireland’s regions;

- focusing investments in areas where Ireland can differentiate itself internationally – specifically education & Skills, creating attractive places to live and work and supporting enterprise innovation;

- improving the environment for business in terms of access to finance, cost competitiveness, tax environment and economic infrastructures. The Programme for Government commits to introducing tax incentives to support our entrepreneurs and job creators, including further reducing Capital Gains Tax for new start-ups, and increasing the earned income tax credit for the self-employed; and,

- maintaining a focus on protecting our national competitiveness from unsustainable cost growth.

Region	Published Regional Action Plan for Jobs targets 2015 to 2020
North East/North West	28,000
Midland	14,000
West	25,000
Dublin	66,000
Mid-East	25,000
Mid-West	23,000
South-East	25,000
South-West	40,000

Economic Competitiveness

Questions (225)

Niall Collins

Question:

225. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps she is planning to address consumer prices, given the recent publication of the costs of doing business in Ireland in 2016 which reported them as 20% higher than the European Union average; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13980/16]

Written answers

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Improving Ireland’s competitiveness position is a key economic priority for Government. As set out in 'A Programme for a Partnership Government', our objective is to protect our national competitiveness from unsustainable cost growth and to deliver a job-fit business environment which ranks in the top tier globally.

Core inflation (consumer prices excluding food and energy) has been low in Ireland and across the Euro area in recent years. At present, Ireland is experiencing a negative consumer price environment. Prices on average, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, were 0.1 per cent lower in April 2016 compared with April 2015. As highlighted by the CSO, the most notable changes in the year were decreases in Transport (-4.9%), Furnishings, Household Equipment & Routine Household Maintenance (-2.6%), Clothing & Footwear (-2.3%) and Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages (-1.0%). There were increases in Miscellaneous Goods & Services (+4.5%), Education (+3.8%), Restaurants & Hotels (+2.0%) and Alcoholic Beverages & Tobacco (+1.7%).

The Costs of Doing Business Report published by the National Competitiveness Council on April 21st provides an assessment of Ireland's cost competitiveness performance vis-a-vis a range of competitor countries. The report, which has been noted by Government, concentrates on the costs on enterprise that are largely domestically determined such as labour, property, transport, energy, water, waste, communications, credit /financial, and business service. It finds that Ireland’s cost base has improved across a range of metrics over the last five years. This has made Irish firms more competitive internationally and made Ireland a more attractive location for firms to base their operations in. However, despite these improvements, Ireland remains a relatively high cost location for a range of key business inputs and there is upward cost pressure evident in property, business services and the labour market. The Council warns that Ireland is particularly vulnerable to external shocks beyond our control – external risks at the moment include in particular Brexit, oil prices and exchange rate movements.

The report is a timely reminder of the risks of complacency regarding our cost competitiveness performance. The improved competitiveness of Ireland’s exporting sector, as reflected in the IMD Competitiveness rankings released earlier this week where we have moved to 7th position globally, has been one of Ireland’s greatest strengths in recent years and has been central to economic growth and job creation.

In relation to cost competitiveness, as the Council have previously pointed out, we must focus on the controllable portion of our enterprise cost base, and continue to take action to address unnecessarily high costs (i.e. cost levels not justified by productivity) wherever they arise. Measures that ensure open and competitive markets are also essential. At the same time, productivity performance will assume an even more prominent role in driving Irish international competitiveness.

Addressing Ireland’s international cost competitiveness is a key economic policy priority for Government and as set out in the Action Plan for Jobs, a range of initiatives are in train across Government Departments to support cost competitiveness. In addition, the Council and my Department and its agencies are continually engage with relevant public and private stakeholders, as there is a role for both the public and private sectors alike to proactively manage their cost base and drive efficiency, thus creating a virtuous circle between the costs of living, wage expectations and cost competitiveness. The policy implications of the Costs of Doing Business in Ireland 2016 report’s analysis, and associated structural reforms required to address Ireland’s cost base, will be included in the Council’s annual Competitiveness Challenge report which will be brought to Government published later this year.