Vol. 450 No. 7
88 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Enterprise and Employment the category and total finance available to his Department or any agency under the aegis of his Department for funding or grant-aiding projects in 1995; the existing number of jobs; the potential increase in jobs in this area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5689/95]
The details sought by the Deputy on project funding for 1995 are available in the recently published Book of Estimates. The annual employment survey, carried out by Forfás, formerly by the IDA, details the employment in all manufacturing and internationally traded service companies in the State known to the industrial development agencies. The employment in those companies at the end of 1994 was just over 218,000 people.
As far as anticipated job creation levels are concerned. I refer the Deputy to the recently published Operational Programme for Industrial Development 1994 — 1999 which sets out a job creation target of 20,000 gross new jobs per annum over the period of the programme. I expect that this target will be achieved by Forbairt, IDA Ireland and Shannon Development in 1995.
Details supplied by the 35 county enterprise boards for their first full year of operation indicate that in 1994, some 1,776 full time and 263 part time jobs were created. The Operational Programme for Local Urban and Rural Development sets out a target for the creation of 8,000 new jobs over the duration of the operation programme: 1994-1999.
