Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 10 November 2020
182. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the number of jobs created or lost in the services sector in the course of each of the past five years to date; the steps taken or in hand to ensure continued investment and job creation in the sector in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35400/20]
View answerThe Services sector in Ireland is a broad sector spanning a number of subsectors including financial services, aircraft leasing, business services and business process outsourcing, and international education services, many of which are under the remit of other Ministers. However, my Department maintains an overview of important sectors of the economy to facilitate a cohesive strategic approach to investment and job creation.
The table below shows the gains, losses, net change and gross number of permanent full time jobs for agency client companies (i.e. clients of IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, and Údarás na Gaeltachta) in the services sector for the years 2015-2019.
Table 1: Agency Client Permanent Full Time Employment in Services Sector 2015-2019
|
Services Sector |
2015 |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
|
Permanent full time gains |
19,025 |
19,831 |
23,647 |
21,366 |
19,750 |
|
Permanent full time losses |
-8,254 |
-7,136 |
-10,279 |
-10,189 |
-7,638 |
|
Permanent full time net change |
10,771 |
12,695 |
13,368 |
11,177 |
12,112 |
|
Permanent full time jobs |
144,346 |
157,041 |
170,409 |
181,586 |
193,698 |
Enterprise 2025 Renewed, Ireland’s enterprise policy highlights the high relative contribution of services (56% in 2018 for agency clients), particularly ICT Services, to Ireland’s exports. It places a strategic focus on innovation and talent, and leveraging strengths in disruptive technologies to promote development of new products, services and solutions to compete effectively against international competition.
In 2017, IDA Ireland published ‘Global Business Services, A National Strategy, Vision 2017 and Beyond’ to support development of the global business services and business process outsourcing sectors.
Services sectors are supported by a range of sectoral strategies. One such example is the whole of Government strategy for internationally traded financial services, IFS2020, which was initiated in 2015 sought to achieve an additional 10,000 enterprise agency supported jobs in the sector by the end of 2019. This target was surpassed, and the latest available data show agency supported employment in the sector in excess of 46,000. A new strategy, Ireland For Finance seeks to build on the success of IFS2020 and sets out the basis for action across a range of key policy holders.
The Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport published a National Aviation Policy for Ireland in 2015 which seeks to maximise the contribution of the aviation sector to Ireland’s economic growth and development, and publishes progress reports on its implementation.
Other strategies include Irish Educated Globally Connected an International Education Strategy for Ireland, 2016-2020 is the Government’s international education strategy to attracting talent from around the world to our education institutions, equipping Irish learners with the skills and experience they need to compete internationally, engaging in world-class research and international collaborations, and addressing global challenges.
The National Economic Plan currently being developed will set out the Government’s guiding priorities and policy objectives for a sustainable recovery, restoring employment and supporting the longer-term capacity and reorientation of our economy with an integrated and multi-sectoral coordinated approach.
