Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 8 December 2016
1. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on whether there are sufficient supports in place to safeguard Irish jobs and exports following the recent Brexit referendum; if she will immediately review Enterprise 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39274/16]
View answerI would like to ask the Minister her views on whether there are sufficient supports in place to safeguard Irish jobs and exports following the recent British referendum. Will she immediately review the Enterprise 2025 policy?
My Department and the agencies under its remit provide supports at a policy and operational level to safeguard Irish jobs and exports, including in the context of Brexit. These include: the development of the annual action plan for jobs and regional action plans; contributing to EU policy development advocating for further strengthening of the Single Market, with access to 450 million customers, and bilateral trade agreements between the EU and third countries giving us global reach for our exports; continuing to focus on competitiveness through the National Competitiveness Council, which will include a focus on Brexit in its forthcoming challenge report; and on the ground supports by Enterprise Ireland and local enterprise offices, LEOs, to help Irish companies to start, scale and export.
Enterprise Ireland is working with companies to increase exports to the UK and to diversify into other markets focusing on improving company competitiveness and capability. IDA Ireland is actively pursuing opportunities for mobile investment and has just launched a new global marketing campaign, Ireland Right Place Right Time, with additional funding provided by my Department. There is a 10% increase in the capital budget for my Department for 2017 which will help to ensure that the agencies are well-positioned to deal with the challenges that Brexit presents for their clients.
Enterprise 2025 sets a roadmap for longer-term enterprise development. While it remains relevant in terms of its focus on the resilience of the enterprise base, I have asked my officials to review its progress and identify additional actions or changes necessary in light of more recent global challenges, including Brexit.
I, along with the Minister and other Members of the House, attended the all-Ireland civic dialogue on Brexit that was held recently. The Minister will also be aware that the Joint Committee on Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has met 15 groups across five sessions over three meetings. The people who attended those Oireachtas committee meetings were the same as those who attended at the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham, namely, delegates from Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, cross-Border bodies, ICTU and business representative groups, and they are all saying the same thing. They point to the uncertainty and to the need for market diversification to try to safeguard against the impact of many businesses moving to a sterling cost based area in the new year. With that in mind, did the Department consider the establishment of an export fund to support companies selling into the UK that are seeking to diversify?
The additional staffing complement being afforded to Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland has previously been mentioned in this House, but I am told that this has not yet made its way through the system of officialdom. The organisations do not know what headcount they will have. Will the Minister shed some light on the situation?
Deputy Collins is correct. Market diversification is hugely important. I assure him that Enterprise Ireland is working with indigenous companies to ensure they have advice on diversification. Things such as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, are important. We will ensure that we exploit whatever trades we can. This is one of the reasons we currently have trade missions all around the world.
The Deputy also asked about staffing for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. The Deputy knows an additional €3 million for current expenditure has been granted. This has been brought to Government and we will work our way through it. The chief executives, Julie Sinnamon and Martin Shanahan, both know that they will be getting a good tranche of this money to ensure they can employ extra staff.
Will the Minister comment on the 2020 regional jobs targets? She has specified a target of 135,000 new jobs outside the greater Dublin area. How does she intend to achieve the target given the onset of Brexit and the unpreparedness that seems to be everywhere? We did not have a Brexit-proofed budget and we do not have a fund to Brexit-proof our companies. Nor do we have a national hedging policy. Additional staff is being given to Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, but those numbers still have not come through. We are so much in the hands of others and the Government seems to be rudderless. That is what the representative groups are telling us. How will we protect what we have and how will we reach our targets in the meantime? In particular, how will we achieve the 135,000 new jobs outside Dublin? Many of the agencies have told us that the job losses that will initially follow Brexit will be those that are labour intensive, in the manufacturing sector and rural based. There will be no complement of jobs provided in those regions or sectors, although there may be a complement of jobs provided in the financial services and high tech sectors later.
We have detailed a good and targeted response in the Action Plan for Jobs and particularly in the regional action plans for jobs. There are eight regions and I have met with representatives of seven of them. We have gone through the implementation of those plans. They are on target and some of them are ahead of target. Four of them are doing really well and four are average. However, we must work our way through it. I pay tribute to those who are working on these regional action plans. They live and breathe the plans. It is really good that there is a co-ordinated response for the regions. We will deliver 135,000 jobs outside the Dublin area. This year even, 72% of the new jobs announced have been outside the greater Dublin area.
