The issue of job creation is a day-to-day operational issue for the industrial development agencies under the remit of my Department and not one for which I, as Minister, have direct involvement. Only a small number of the jobs announced in any given year would normally be expected to be created within the same year, as there is usually a time lag between the announcement of new jobs and the creation of those jobs.
Factors which influence this time lag are the time taken to locate and acquire a suitable site for the companies' operations, construct the facility and to install plant and machinery, in the case of manufacturing plants, and to recruit and train staff. It should also be noted that frequently the number of jobs quoted in announcements refer to the number of jobs which a company expects to create over a number of years. The main agencies under my Department's remit which deal with job creation are Enterprise Ireland in regard to the development of indigenous industry, IDA Ireland in regard to the attraction of inward investment and Shannon Development in the Shannon region.
In the full year 2002, some 26 IDA Ireland projects with 4,499 associated jobs were announced out of the 55 projects approved for support. By November 2002, the date of the Forfás annual employment survey, 205 of these jobs had been created in greenfield projects while total employment in companies where expansions were announced was 3,672. In all a total of 11,743 jobs were created in IDA Ireland supported companies that year. In 2003 to date, a total of 17 IDA Ireland projects have been announced with 3,346 associated jobs. Job creation figures 2003 will not be available until November 2003, the date of the next Forfás annual employment survey.