Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 June 2018
564. Deputy Micheál Martin asked the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation the status of the implementation of the programme for partnership Government as it applies to her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [24570/18]
View answerA key objective of the Programme for Partnership Government, from the perspective of my Department, is to provide a supportive environment for enterprise and employment and to deliver sustainable full employment. In the Programme, my Department was tasked with supporting a leap forward in the capacity and performance of our enterprise sector and delivering an environment that is conducive to the creation and maintenance of quality employment. We have set a target of 200,000 extra jobs by 2020, with 135,000 of these to be in locations outside Dublin. The latest statistics show that employment continues to grow strongly:
- 97,500 jobs were created between Q2 2016 and Q4 2017, bringing total employment to 2,225,100.
- Full time employment increased by 7.8% (from 1,632,900 to 1,761,800) from Q2 2016 to Q4 2017.
- Unemployment decreased nationally from 204,900 in Q2 2016 to 151,500 in Q4 2017, with the monthly unemployment rate now at 5.8% in May 2018.
With regard to regional employment, the statistics are encouraging:
- From Q2 2016 to Q2 2017, employment outside of Dublin grew by 3.0% compared to a growth of 1.3% in Dublin.
- Employment increased in all eight regions over the twelve month period to Q2 2017.
- The unemployment rate decreased in all regions from Q2 2016 – Q2 2017.
- Labour Force Survey data shows that 84% of the increase in employment in the year to Q2 2017 was outside Dublin.
IDA Ireland continues to work to attract foreign direct investment to Ireland. The agency created 10,684 net new jobs over the course of 2017, with every region in Ireland posting net gains in jobs. At the end of 2017 there were 210,443 people working in IDA Ireland client companies, the highest in IDA Ireland’s history. This figure surpasses the five-year target of 209,000 which was set in 2015 in the “Winning: Foreign Direct Investment” strategy. The IDA is continuing to work towards other objectives set out in this strategy, especially that of increasing the level of investment by between 30% and 40% in each region outside Dublin by 2019. Strong progress was made in this respect in 2017, with 45% of IDA Ireland supported jobs created located outside Dublin. Through its Regional Property Programme, the IDA is also developing appropriate property solutions in designated regional locations to attract overseas investment.
In the indigenous sector, 2017 was a very strong year for job creation among Enterprise Ireland clients with 19,332 new jobs created. 2017 resulted in the highest client employment in the history of the agency, highest net job creation in the history of the agency and the lowest number of job losses since 1998. There was positive net jobs growth in every county across the country, with 65% of new job creation outside of Dublin. Employment in Local Enterprise Office client companies now stands at 37,485 with 3,760 net new jobs were created in 2017.
My Department is focused on addressing the challenges that Brexit poses for business, and we established a dedicated Brexit Unit in 2016 to lead on the coordination of the Department’s policy and operational responses to Brexit, including our approach to the negotiations within the EU and bilateral relations with the UK. In November 2017, we published “Building Stronger Business: Responding to Brexit by competing, innovating and trading”. This paper summarises impacts of Brexit across key policy areas within the Department and outlines the policy and operational measures underway and planned by the Department and its Agencies to respond to Brexit, including supports available to companies to help them prepare for Brexit. The recently launched Agile Innovation Fund, launched in 2017, helps companies use innovation to mitigate risks posed by Brexit. Companies are already seeing that such initiatives increase business resilience and add value, whatever the full impacts of Brexit may be. We also provide regular input and advice to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on key issues for Ireland in the context of the negotiations including exit issues, transition, arrangements for framework for the future relationship.
In relation to Trade, according to CSO merchandise trade and balance of payments data, total exports have increased by 58 percent since 2012 to €283.7billion in 2017. The Government’s Trade Strategy, ‘Ireland Connected: Trading and Investing in a Dynamic World’, supports an extensive programme of Ministerial-led trade missions, as part of a major drive towards market diversification as well as ambitious targets for trade and investment. These include increasing our indigenous exports to reach €26 billion by 2020 – up by 26% from 2015, generating 30,000 more jobs in tourism by 2020 and €5 billion in overseas tourism revenues by 2025, and securing 900 new foreign direct investments in the period 2015-2019. In relation to Brexit, the target is to intensify and diversify 80% of indigenous export growth to 2020 to be outside of the UK market and maintain exports of at least €7.5 billion to the UK.
In 2017, Enterprise Ireland launched its Eurozone Strategy as a key element of its supports to help companies diversify their export markets. In particular, it aims to increase exports to the Eurozone by €2bn per annum by 2020, equivalent to 50 percent increase. This would represent one of the most significant shifts in Enterprise Ireland supported client exports into the Eurozone and is particularly important in the context of Brexit. More recently, Government’s Enterprise 2025 Renewed strategy published in March 2018 sets out targets for export growth and diversification within the indigenous exporting base, with ambitions to increase exports as a percentage of total sales of Irish owned companies from 52 percent to between 55 and 60 percent by 2020 and increase Enterprise Ireland client exports beyond UK markets from €14.1 billion to €17.4 billion by 2020.
The Programme for Partnership Government commits to alleviating pressures on household budgets and, in this context, the work of the Personal Injuries Commission, established in January 2017, will play an important role in helping to address the cost of motor insurance in Ireland, complementing the work of the Cost of Insurance Working Group. The first report of the Commission was published in December 2017 and work is progressing on the Commission’s final report, which will focus predominately on benchmarking of Irish motor insurance personal injury awards with those in other jurisdictions.
My Department is also focusing on the introduction of a number of additional supports for business. A Taking Care of Business event was held in Dublin Castle in November 2017 at which nearly 500 members of the business community – including SMEs, start-ups, entrepreneurs and business students –engaged face to face with 30 state agencies, offices and services to learn about the broad range of advice and support that are available for their business. A number of representative bodies from industry also came together to support the event. A further regional event is planned for 25th September in the Mid-West. A new Employment Permits Online System was launched in September 2016, achieving a 95% take-up rate in the first two weeks. This high rate of take-up has continued since then. Under the new system, the application to decision time can take as little as 5-7 working days to complete, an excellent timeframe by international comparison.
In April, my Department published its Statement of Strategy for the 2018-2021 period and this outlines the many areas where my Department will maintain focus over that timeframe to deliver on our commitments under the Programme for Partnership Government.
