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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 13 May 2015

Vol. 878 No. 2

Other Questions

Regional Development Initiatives

Denis Naughten

Ceist:

6. Deputy Denis Naughten asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the steps he is taking to support enterprise development in the midlands and western regions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18340/15]

Jobs from foreign direct investment or IDA Ireland, in the main, do not swim. With few exceptions, IDA Ireland jobs are not crossing the Shannon. Projections based on the IDA Ireland record over the past five years show that while Galway city can expect up to 1,300 jobs per annum over the next five years, counties like Leitrim can expect 80 jobs and Roscommon just 45 jobs per annum. There are similar projections for towns in east Galway. What specific measures will be taken to bring jobs to rural and smaller provincial towns?

Supporting enterprise development in all regions of the country in order to support job creation is a key objective of the Government. All regions have experienced jobs growth, as the Minister of State, Deputy English, has said, but the rate of progress in some regions is less than in others. That is why the Government is placing an increased emphasis on supporting job creation in the regions this year.

In February, the Government announced details of the Action Plan for Jobs: Regional Initiative, which seeks to capitalise on the strengths and assets of each region to maximise enterprise growth and job creation. The initiative will build on the success of the national Action Plan for Jobs, and encourage regional stakeholders, including enterprise agencies, local authorities, higher education institutions, other public bodies and the private sector to come forward with innovative ideas to boost job creation in their own region.

In total, eight regional action plans will be developed and published this year. My objective is that six plans, including those for the midlands and west regions, will be launched by the end of July, with the remaining two in development. In each of the regions the regional manager of either Enterprise Ireland or IDA Ireland is acting as co-ordinator and has formed an action group among public bodies in the region. Stakeholder workshops involving public and private sector groups have been held in Athlone and Galway, which I have attended. Their task was to identify new opportunities and to develop actions which can be implemented collaboratively within the next 18 months to deliver growth in enterprises and jobs. A formal monitoring committee with private sector involvement will be formed to oversee the implementation of the plans.

The regional action plans will be supported by investment of up to €250 million over the next five years, including €150 million for a property investment programme by IDA Ireland, and up to €100 million for three separate competitive calls which will be administered through Enterprise Ireland. These competitive calls will support collaborative initiatives to boost enterprise growth and job creation in the regions. Details of those competitive calls will be announced shortly.

As part of its property programme, IDA Ireland has committed to investing in new property solutions in Castlebar, Galway and Athlone, amongst other centres, over the next three years. Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland have also placed an increased emphasis on the regions in their new corporate strategies. It is the roll-out of those strategies that will inform regional enterprise plans.

I thank the Minister for his response. His initiative is welcome and it is positive. However, the reality is that for many of the smaller provincial towns, it will be local employers and local jobs that will turn around the economy. One of the key aspects of that is to support the local enterprise offices, LEOs, across the country. For example, the LEO in Country Roscommon will by June 2015 have exhausted the funding that is available to it.

In many of the other smaller counties across the country the same will happen. I want a commitment from the Minister on counties which have received the short end of the stick in regard to foreign direct investment, namely, that if their LEOs are able to draw down funding and spend it in the first six months of the year they will not have to wait until 2016 to access more funding. I want a commitment that the funding will be forthcoming for the viable job prospects available.

I refer to LEOs in Galway and Roscommon. Both offices are currently short-staffed and need existing staff. Will the Minister give a commitment to the House that they will be appointed?

I thank the Deputy for his support for this initiative. It is not true to say, as he projected in his initial statement, that foreign direct investment only takes place east of the Shannon. In the western counties to which Deputy Calleary referred in terms of the report from the WDC, 4,000 additional jobs were created by IDA Ireland in the past four years. There has been a stronger performance by those companies than by Enterprise Ireland companies in those regions.

It is not true to say that IDA Ireland is undervaluing the regions. We are seeking to support balanced regional growth through IDA Ireland. It has made a commitment to increase its project by 40% in each region. It is a very firm commitment and to underpin it, as the Deputy knows, we are building advance facilities in Athlone. LEOs are a fundamental piece of the strategy. We recently allocated additional staff, through a graduate placement programme, to virtually all LEOs. We are having a competitive call specifically aimed at LEOs to allow them to bring forward new initiatives that would support job creation. It is a competitive approach and we stand over it.

The Minister avoided answering the question, that is, whether additional funding will be provided to LEOs in counties where they are not successful in bringing significant numbers of FDI jobs into the region and ensure that they will not be left short-changed until the end of the year. The current popular IDA Ireland job locations will get more jobs over the next five years, to the detriment of towns like Ballinasloe, Roscommon, Boyle, Ballaghaderreen and Castlerea. A lot of the locations investors look at are chosen before they arrive in Ireland.

I ask the Minister to make funding for a specific initiative available, namely, to provide expertise and support to smaller provincial towns so that they can properly promote and highlight what they have to offer prospective investors so that they are at least on the pitch when investors are considering coming to Ireland and the regions.

As I indicated, the Government has provided €150 million for IDA Ireland to develop property-based solutions across the country, only 30% of which is committed to the 12 advanced facilities. There is an IDA Ireland facility to support initiatives. It is a pity the Deputy was not at the regional enterprise forum because people genuinely examined our strengths and what we can build in the regions. The call will see groups of people coming forward with solid proposals that can pass a business case test. That is what this is designed to do, namely, to bring institutions together.

Athlone Institute of Technology is a powerful influencer. If that can be allied with other enterprise centres it can be a very powerful driver. We are seeking new thinking from the region. It is to be hoped that it will materialise in individual initiatives in particular locations. For example, Drumshanbo in Leitrim, which is not that far away, has an outstanding food centre which is an example to anyone. It has brought together SOLAS, entrepreneurs and support services from the LEO. That is the sort of initiative we are trying to develop. The quality of the proposals will be crucial.

National Minimum Wage

Joan Collins

Ceist:

7. Deputy Joan Collins asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the living wage, and that the introduction of a living wage of at least €11.45 per hour is essential to begin to address the inequality in our society; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18408/15]

I tabled this question to continue the debate on a living, rather than a minimum, wage. Many people support the concept of a living wage. Family income supplement, FIS, was mentioned and some 40,000 working families are in receipt of it. The minimum wage is not a living wage; it is the bare minimum the State deems a person should earn per hour. The concept of €11.45 per hour has been raised and it will be interesting to see what the Minister has to say about it.

The living wage concept is grounded in the idea that a person’s wage should be sufficient to maintain a safe and decent standard of living. At an individual level the resources required to achieve a minimum essential standard of living are very dependent on family circumstances and thus the interaction of individual earnings with household income and supports such as child benefit, FIS and housing, education and health supports all contribute to an individual's standard of living.

In the UK, it is a voluntary code that some employers, who pay in excess of the UK national minimum wage, are keen to be associated with. However, the UK does not have the joint labour committee framework or sectoral employment order framework that, in the former case, has been re-introduced and that, in the latter case, is due to be put on a statutory footing very shortly, via the enactment of the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Bill 2015. Both frameworks provide or will provide for the setting of wages in excess of the national minimum wage.

The Government’s decision to restore the national minimum wage to €8.65 per hour, with effect from 1 July 2011, together with the decision to put the joint labour committees on a more secure legal and constitutional footing represents a significant commitment by this Government to protect the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers. In at least two sectors the joint labour committee process is advancing very well in terms of orders. It should be borne in mind that the national minimum wage in Ireland is relatively high by international standards.

Making work pay continues to be a cornerstone of this Government’s agenda and the establishment of a low pay commission is one of the key commitments in the statement of Government priorities agreed in July 2014. The commission was officially launched on 26 February 2015 to operate on an interim administrative basis. Legislation to provide for the establishment of the commission on a statutory basis is expected to be published this week with a view to its enactment by mid-2015.

It is also important to bear in mind that later this year I will ensure that we have a Government-backed forum on the living wage, which will take place in the autumn. I have a deep interest in the living wage initiative and I have previously stated I will host a forum on the living wage later in the year, where I will invite employers, trade unions, civil society actors, academics and key organisations involved in this voluntary initiative to examine the concept from an Irish perspective.

I welcome that sort of forum and participating in it. It is a key debate. In Britain the living wage, by law, is £7.56 an hour, but in the city of London there is a voluntary wage of £10.55, a concept which most employers have bought into on the basis that it is good practice, which is good to see. A wage of €11.45 per hour, considering sterling-euro exchange rates, is not too far from that. Employers used to pay a Dublin rate and a rural rate in the retail sector. Is that something the Minister of State is considering regarding a living wage concept nationally?

There is provision in the review of the JLC sector and the fact that we have put the JLC system on a stronger legislative and constitutional footing for the establishment, for example, of a JLC in the retail sector. Under the legislation it is a matter for employers, employees and trade unions to engage.

I am very interested in the concept of a living wage and have engaged with the Living Wage Foundation in the UK on an informal basis on a number of occasions, as well as with other think tanks which have done some very important work on the concept of a living wage. The Deputy will be familiar with the fact that the concept is a voluntary one. It is a grassroots initiative, developed by civil society organisations in the UK in the late 1990s and early 2000s. To the best of my recollection, about 1,200 employers in the UK have signed up to this voluntary initiative.

There is a role for civil society to work with all interested parties to make sure that they can promote the concept of a living wage. As I said, I will host a forum in Dublin later this year to discuss the concept from an Irish perspective and see what we can learn from the UK. At that forum we will engage with progressive employers and civil society actors to discuss the concept further.

The concept of a living wage has to reflect the cost of everything else. The cost of child care in Ireland is among the highest in Europe due to the fact that it is not subsided in any way by the State.

Transport costs and the fact child benefit is paid must also be taken into account. All of these issues must be weighed when working out what the national living wage should be. It is welcome that the Government is pushing for this and I know that the Tánaiste agrees with the concept of a living wage. It is absolutely necessary to protect those who are the most vulnerable and in the type of jobs in which they are most subject to exploitation.

It is worth noting that the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, and I have worked very hard to re-establish a registered employment agreement, REA, system that will be constitutionally and legislatively robust. We will be introducing the legislation very shortly. We have a joint labour committee system in place and work is ongoing on two particular sectors covered by JLCs, where I expect we will see some progress on a code and an order in the next few months. The REA system, for example, covered 70,000 to 80,000 workers, but that is no longer in place because of the McGowan judgment in 2013. What the United Kingdom does not have is a joint labour committee system, an REA system or a sectoral employment order system, which we are seeking to introduce by legislation here. When we are discussing issues around the living wage and employment conditions, we need to be mindful of this, in particular when comparing the situation in Ireland to that in the United Kingdom.

Job Losses

Thomas P. Broughan

Ceist:

8. Deputy Thomas P. Broughan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will report on the status of the inter-agency group set up to deal with the proposed job losses in Mondelez-Cadbury in Coolock, Dublin 5; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18300/15]

As the Minister knows, it is well over three months since there was the threat of serious job losses at Mondelez-Cadbury in Coolock. We had a meeting in his Department and an inter-agency group was supposed to be set up, to be led by Enterprise Ireland. However, I found out from workers in Liberty Hall last Friday that e-mails were not being responded to, that no meetings had been held and that the momentum behind the inter-agency group, such as it was, was to find alternative jobs rather than to save the jobs that were under pressure. As the Minister knows, the workers have tried to come forward with mutually beneficial alternatives to Mondelez-Cadbury management, but they have received no assistance whatsoever from him or his Department.

Immediately after the announcement by the company concerned, I established an inter-agency group to co-ordinate the response to the proposed job losses. The group, chaired by Enterprise Ireland, will seek to secure alternative employment in the area affected and ensure departing workers will have access to supports they need from State agencies in seeking retraining, access to social welfare supports, advice on employment rights and advice and support for those workers who intend to start their own businesses. The group includes local enterprise offices, IDA Ireland, Solas, the education and training boards, the Department of Social Protection, the MABS, the Northside Partnership and the Citizens Information Bureau.

Enterprise Ireland has held meetings at all three of the sites affected by the proposed rationalisation. The inter-agency group made it clear that it stood ready to meet unions and staff representatives at any stage. This offer was deemed premature while discussions between the company and the union were still at a preliminary stage. However, the group remains ready to meet employee representatives at their convenience. Enterprise Ireland has been in contact with the company on a continuous basis regarding the assistance it can provide for the restructuring plan.

I understand management and employee representatives are in discussions on a variety of issues. I also understand the inter-agency group has been in direct contact with a representative of the workers and that a meeting is being arranged.

I continue to monitor the position very closely. The Labour Relations Commission stands ready to assist in the negotiations. Enterprise Ireland has held meetings with the company’s management on a weekly basis since the announcement of the proposed job losses. I have directed Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to continue their drive to find alternative projects for the area affected.

The Minister still does not seem to get it. The key point is that the workforce in the constituency wants to have the current jobs retained and that the threat of the loss of jobs to Poland needs a response. People have asked for assistance in terms of the accounting, economic studies and supports the Department might be able to provide for the workforce. However, the Minister is clearly indicating that he will not do any of this and that his role is to provide some method of seeking alternative employment. That response is simply not sufficient.

As I understand it, Mondelez-Cadbury is part of the joint 3G Capital-Berkshire Hathaway Group which has been imposing very severe conditions and cutbacks at its plants in the United States. We now have this transfer of production to Poland where, obviously, workers will be on much lower pay and conditions. We have a process whereby workers are being hired on temporary contracts and totally different conditions than the existing workforce. This is a very important industrial workforce in an area that used to be part of the Minister's constituency and has always been part of mine. It has to be said the Minister's response is incredibly lacklustre and lethargic.

I completely deny that that is the case. Enterprise Ireland will support any restructuring plan agreed by the unions and the company. Once they work out a plan, we stand ready to support it in many ways, for example, by developing lean processes and providing training and support in undertaking research and development. Obviously, a restructuring plan has to be negotiated between the company and the unions and it has to be done collectively. The Labour Relations Commission stands ready to assist in that process. If there are issues about access to accounting details, the Labour Relations Commission has a long record of helping the two parties to deal with these issues in an effective way. It stands ready to assist both the unions and the management of the company to hammer out a restructuring deal of that nature. When that is done, Enterprise Ireland stands ready to support it with a suite of supports. We had the very same situation at Bausch and Lomb where there was a huge difficulty and very difficult changes had to be made. New investment was attracted by the company, as Cadbury is committing to doing in this case. Just 12 months on, we had the recent announcement of expansion in employment. There is a track record of using the Labour Relations Commission and the supports of the agencies involved to develop alternative plans. That assistance is available to both sides.

A long time has passed since the meeting we had at the Minister's Department, yet we have seen absolutely nothing happen. As I said, I have been told e-mails from SIPTU and the workforce have not even been replied to. I received an e-mail yesterday from the Minister and another this morning from one of the officials at Enterprise Ireland. There is foot-dragging. It is not the proactive approach on which I would have thought the Minister would have embarked, particularly in the case of something that affects his own constituents. For example, there is supposed to be an €11.7 million reinvestment programme, but we know nothing about it because the Minister, Enterprise Ireland and the rest of the group simply have not been engaged. The clear message is that people want to have the jobs retained in this historic plant which has always been at the cutting edge of food production. They do not want the Minister to come along and talk about people becoming entrepreneurs and so on, which, for many, is totally unrealistic. They want the Minister to save the current jobs.

The company has committed clearly, both to me and the workforce, to making this investment. That is the context in which the negotiations are under way. The negotiations were delayed to some degree, for reasons the Deputy will know, but they have now started. We stand ready, through the Labour Relations Commission, to assist on the technical side. The Labour Relations Commission has a long record of supporting workers, unions and managements in working through restructuring. The company is committed to making the investment and Enterprise Ireland is committed to working with the company through the suite of supports it offers. The support of the agencies involved is available. However, this is a negotiation between the workers and the company and a solution has to evolve. We will facilitate its emergence in every way we can.

Workplace Relations Services

Thomas Pringle

Ceist:

9. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the progress made in the reorganisation of the Employment Appeals Tribunal; the issues that have arisen from the reformed structure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18412/15]

This question relates to the reorganisation of the workplace relations architecture within the State, how that reorganisation is progressing and the impact it is having on the current caseload of the Employment Appeals Tribunal.

The Deputy will be aware that, as part of the current reform of workplace relations services, the functions of the Employment Appeals Tribunal will be transferred to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and the Labour Court in so far as first instance complaints and appeals, respectively, are concerned, with first instance complaints being referred to the WRC and appeals to the Labour Court. The Employment Appeals Tribunal will continue to function for a limited period after the establishment of the WRC to finalise complaints and appeals lodged before the commencement of the enabling legislation and will be dissolved on finalisation of these legacy cases. The objectives of the reform programme are to deliver a world-class workplace relations service which will be simple to use, independent, effective, impartial and cost-effective, provide for workable means of redress and enforcement within a reasonable period and reduce costs.

The Workplace Relations Bill, which returned to the Dáil this week, will make statutory provision for the new structures while also providing for a number of innovative measures including the use of compliance notices and fixed charge notices and the sharing of employment information between the WRC, the Labour Court and other official agencies and so on.

Significant progress has been achieved to date, in advance of the enabling legislation, to put in place the technological, structural, administrative and staffing changes required to underpin the workplace relations programme. I am pleased to say that some 19 new adjudication officers, selected for appointment following an open competition conducted by the Public Appointments Service, will shortly complete an accredited training programme. These adjudicators, together with the current cohort of equality officers and rights commissioners who will be appointed as WRC adjudicators, will be available for deployment on the establishment of the WRC. The adjudication resources at the disposal of the commission will, therefore, comprise a diverse group of experienced industrial relations and HR practitioners, employment lawyers and civil servants with appropriate skills and experience.

A key commitment in the workplace relations reform is to place the needs of users and stakeholders at the very core of service delivery and to reduce the administrative burden involved in customer interaction with the service.

Changes are taking place and 19 new adjudication officers are being appointed but how are these proposed changes affecting the current workload of the Employment Appeals Tribunal? I know of cases that are taking more than two years to come to hearing and resolution. It is a very difficult situation for former workers, who may have been unfairly dismissed, to have this continuous wait for their cases to be heard. They are entitled to some sense of closure, regardless of the outcome, so that they can move on with their lives. Are the proposed changes having an impact on the current workload in terms of developing some sense of inertia or lack of understanding of what is happening and how things will progress? What efforts are being made to clear the workload in advance of the new structures coming into effect?

A huge amount of change has taken place and it is a credit to the people working in this area. We are merging five bodies into two and there has been huge support from those involved in simplifying the process. Some 30 forms have been reduced down to one and an online application procedure has been developed. A pilot early resolution procedure is available so that cases which can be resolved without going to hearing can be drawn aside thereby avoiding the long wait for a hearing. The delays in getting a hearing before a rights commissioner are being reduced and there is now a very quick turnaround.

Deputy Pringle is right when he says there is a legacy delay at the Employment Appeals Tribunal, but those waiting times are also being reduced. It is true that there will be a legacy delay after we set up the WRC and there will be a period to work through those legacy cases. We are making provision to plan that as effectively as we can to minimise delay. Some of the cases are highly complex. They have been referred to the courts and been adjourned and so on. This is a difficult process but we believe that the new process will be much more effective. We are working through the backlog as effectively as we can.

Are staff that should be working on current cases before the Employment Appeals Tribunal working on setting up the new systems? Is that leading to the delays in having cases heard? Two years is far too long for anyone to wait to have a case heard and to have closure to that episode in his or her working life, regardless of the outcome. Is this being done with existing staff? Are the staff double jobbing while these changes are taking place and is that having an impact on the caseload and its progression?

We have not deflected any staff from the hearings or the progression of cases. We have simplified the whole procedure. There were situations where the same case was being run in parallel in two different hearing routes. The same substantive case was being heard in two different arena. We are streamlining the process, for example, by reducing 30 forms down to one. This change has been concerned with simplifying the process and making it user-friendly and having a quicker interaction. Cases that have perhaps been wrongly put together will be spotted to ensure they do not proceed for a long period before they are sent back to the start. It has taken a lot of work to streamline what has been a very complex process. The objective was to make it easier. Resources have not been moved from hearings into the administrative improvement and I pay tribute to the staff who have been extraordinarily flexible in managing the change. It has been remarkable.

Job Creation

Terence Flanagan

Ceist:

10. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to create more manufacturing jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18349/15]

Will the Minister set out the Government's plan to achieve 40,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector? The sector has been earmarked for 40,000 new jobs over the next five and a half years. Will he give more information on this target and will he comment on the proposed loss of 160 jobs at Cadbury's? These are well-paid jobs and are much needed in the area.

The strategy for the manufacturing sector, which was commissioned and which was published in April 2013, identified that an additional 20,000 jobs could be created in the sector by 2016. A complementary report on the skills needs for the sector, which was commissioned at the same time, identified a series of actions to enhance skills in the sector.

Arising from the manufacturing strategy and the skills report, a range of initiatives are in hand by relevant agencies to achieve the 2016 target, with key actions from both reports having been incorporated into the Action Plans for Jobs for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Developing manufacturing was adopted as a disruptive reform and one of the key actions in it is the delivery of a national step change initiative to strengthen Ireland’s manufacturing base. In addition, a wide range of training and educational initiatives are under way by the relevant providers, such as Skillnets. A new key action which has been included in the 2015 action plan is a project to assess the business case for the possible establishment of an innovative manufacturing facility which would enhance Ireland’s manufacturing capability.

Both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland are working with both existing and prospective new client companies in the manufacturing sector, with consequent job creation and retention. New opportunities are emerging in manufacturing as a consequence of technological change in 3D printing, robotics and additive manufacturing and also in the context of the development of smart products and the Internet of things. These opportunities are being addressed as part of the strategic plans of my agencies, Enterprise Ireland, IDA and Science Foundation Ireland. We were at a launch at the South East Applied Materials, SEAM, technology gateway in Waterford Institute of Technology last Thursday, where there has been an investment of more than €2 million in a metal 3D printer. This will allow for the manufacturing and development of 3D printing. The work and research that is going on is fascinating. Many engineering companies will be able to use this resource and will be able to work with our researchers to develop concepts, jobs and projects for the future. This shows great potential and hope.

The latest employment data for the sector from the CSO’s quarterly national household survey shows that direct employment in the manufacturing sector stood at 218,500 in December 2014. This is an increase of 12,800 from the level at the time the strategy was compiled, which represents a very heartening outcome to date. When account is taken of indirect employment, the sector therefore now supports a total of 437,000 jobs and the trend is quite positive.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. There is an international drive relating to technology changes which is changing the manufacturing sector globally. We see the effect on Cadbury's as well in what is going on there. Will the Minister of State work closely with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in relation to Mondelez to see what can be done? I know there are plans to introduce new technologies but what further supports can be given in that particular case to help the workers who face an uncertain future? A national step change in manufacturing initiative was launched in 2014. Will the Minister of State provide an itemised breakdown of the jobs target in manufacturing for each year between now and the end of 2020? I know that 40,000 jobs are earmarked for the sector.

I wish to clarify that the strategy runs to 2016 and the plan is to create 20,000 jobs in the sector over the term of this Government. We have already achieved more than 13,000 direct jobs in manufacturing. This figure does not account for the associated indirect jobs. The plan is to create the extra 7,000 jobs over the next 12 to 18 months to reach that target. This sector can deliver a lot more. Deputy Flanagan mentioned 2020. There is no doubt about it but part of my work includes working in the research and innovation sector. We are dealing with our research ecosystem. Over the lifetime of this Government, we have the prioritisation agenda with regards to research funding. To be fair this was the case in the couple of previous years with other Governments. The sole development of this research ecosystem is leading to great opportunity in all sectors but especially the manufacturing sector. All the work that is going on in that sector, in particular the innovation end of it, will help with cost competitiveness. We need to ensure that our companies can compete on cost, which will help protect jobs.

With the development of new technologies and ideas, for example, metal 3D printing, there is great scope for creating new jobs and getting ahead of the market in some sectors. We are confident, but it is a question of focusing our agencies, which is what the Action Plan for Jobs will do. The manufacturing strategy tries to bring the agencies together.

I thank the Minister of State for his response and look forward to jobs being created in this regard. Quality jobs are required. Will there be further link-ups with universities on emerging technologies in order to improve processes?

The key is to have that link-up. As a Minister of State for seven or eight months, I have spent a great deal of time working with universities, institutes of technology and other research centres to ensure that there is a link-up. I have a leg in the Departments of Education and Skills and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. I am trying to drive that link-up and agenda. That is working, and the focus across Departments will deliver. More than €1 billion is being spent on research. We are trying to get results out of that investment in terms of jobs, but also in terms of solutions for engineering and society.

Later this morning, I will launch the national employer survey, under which we will engage with employers to determine whether we are producing the skills and graduates they need to grow jobs, exports and sales. We are responding across a range of Departments and it is important that we continue this collaboration.

The Deputy mentioned Cadbury. In the previous question, the Minister, Deputy Bruton, discussed that issue in detail. Perhaps the Deputy might read the record. The Minister has put a great deal of effort into arranging for these questions to be taken together.

Research and Development Funding

Clare Daly

Ceist:

11. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation further to Parliamentary Question No. 335 of 21 April 2015, if oriented basic research is counted, along with pure basic research, under the umbrella of basic research for the purposes of the survey of investment in higher education research and development, HERD, for 2012 and 2013; and if the figure of 50.9% of the HERD budget spent on basic research in 2012-13 quoted in his reply includes both pure basic and oriented basic research. [18339/15]

The background to this question is the growing unrest in the scientific research community about the serious imbalances at policy level between funding for oriented basic research, that being, applied research, and pure basic research, which can have a greater social and economic impact in the long run. What is the breakdown between the two in terms of the figures for funding that were provided to me last month?

I missed the discussion on the Deputy's previous question about the survey. For the purposes of the survey of research and development in the higher education sector 2012-13, which is conducted by my Department and previously by Forfás, basic research includes pure and oriented basic research. The figure of 50.9% of the HERD budget spent on basic research in the 2012-13 period included pure basic and oriented basic research. This categorisation is in line with the definitions and requirements set out by the OECD. The OECD categorisations of research to be used by respondents to the HERD survey are set out in the Frascati manual.

Total expenditure on research and development in the higher education sector amounted to €640 million in 2012. Of this, 50.9% - €326 million - was spent on basic research, 43.4% - €278 million - was spent on applied research and 5.7% - approximately €36 million - was spent on experimental research.

The Frascati manual definition of basic research is: "Basic research is experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view." Basic research analyses properties, structures and relationships with a view to formulating and testing hypotheses, theories or laws. The reference to no "particular application or use in view" is crucial, as the performer may not know about actual applications when doing the research or responding to survey questionnaires. The results of basic research are not generally sold, but are usually published in scientific journals or circulated to interested colleagues. Occasionally, basic research may be classified for security reasons.

In basic research, scientists have some freedom to set their own goals. Such research is usually performed in the higher education sector, but also to some extent in the government sector. Basic research can be oriented or directed towards some broad fields of general interest, with the explicit goal of a broad range of applications in the future. One example is the public research programmes on nanotechnology, which several countries have decided on. Firms in the private sector may also undertake basic research with a view to preparing for the next generation of technology. Through many of our research centres, particularly the one in Cork, we are bringing enterprise and the State together to carry out this research.

I do not know whether it was the accent or the sound in the Chamber-----

It was probably the accent.

-----but I found it difficult to follow the Minister of State's answer. It seems convenient that we have subsumed pure basic research under the umbrella of oriented basic research when the latter is really applied research. The amount of investment in the former has fallen disproportionately. The issue that the scientific community and even the business community is putting to the Government is that its science strategy is imbalanced. There will be a serious problem for society unless this is addressed. The international standard that we developed before 2012 is in danger of being eroded.

The Government's consultation process on a replacement for the science, technology and innovation strategy was rushed, although it received 77 submissions. Will the Minister of State address the point on the range of bodies that have expressed concern? The Institute of Physics in Ireland, the Medical Research Charities Group, the Royal Irish Academy and the Health Research Board have stated that the relentless focus on research prioritisation poses dangers for our economy. The Minister of State's figures seem to bear out this concern.

I am sorry. I was probably speaking quickly. I am in a rush to get to a function, so I apologise. I will provide the written response.

I will clarify points on the new strategy. It is not being rushed. The strategy is not finished yet. The initial call for submissions was meant to focus people's minds. The strategy was being discussed long before I took up office eight months ago. It is not as if this has come as a surprise to anyone. We called for submissions in January and the strategy has been discussed at every opportunity I have had since last May. Everywhere I went to speak to researchers, I told them that this was going to happen at some stage. More than 77 submissions were received. I have them and my Department and I are working through them. An interagency group is also working on them. The strategy will not be published until the summer. There will be further opportunities for discussion and consultation because we want to get this right.

I received the letter that was signed by more than 800 researchers. I meet many of them in my daily work when announcing money and I am working with them. We will tease through this. The new strategy needs to get the balance right and focus minds. The Government introduced the prioritisation agenda in 2012 to get the best bang for our buck in a country that needs job creation. We have tried to focus minds in the community through the competitive part of the research fund rather than all of it in areas of excellence to ensure that we develop new ideas, processes and solutions while creating jobs.

I thank the Minister of State.

I am sorry, but I am nearly finished. There is a high level of spending on basic research. It is important that we do this. The strategy will reflect this. We will have ample time. I do not accept that the strategy is being rushed. It is not finished and there are months to go yet.

The consultation period was rushed even if people knew that it had been flagged. The statistics bear out the claim that a decreasing proportion of funding is going towards basic research. The Government's policy deliberately sets out the research prioritisation. The last time we discussed this matter, the Minister did not shift away from that. It is the nub of the problem. No one is saying that the Government should not care about jobs. That is fine. Instead, people are saying that there is a serious imbalance. Everything that the Minister and Minister of State have said seems to indicate that they are entrenching this viewpoint. It is lunacy. They are the only people in the economic and scientific communities who have that view. Studies show that there was 54% basic research spend in 2010 and 2011. There is an amalgamated figure for the 2012-13 period, but it decreased by a couple of percentage points. They key figure will be the 2013-14 one. The direction in which spending is going is wrong, but none of those opposite seems to be listening.

It is not a case of no one listening. We are fully engaged. I have offered to meet many groups before the strategy concludes to discuss it. We want to get it right. We have achieved a great deal with our agenda in the past three or four years. Under successive Governments during the past ten or 15 years, Ireland has built an important and world-recognised research ecosystem. We will continue building on that for Ireland's reputation. We are high achievers in many sectors. However, we also take an important view on job creation. We are proud of this and will not move away from it, so it is a question of working the two elements together. We recognise that, to have applied research, one needs basic research. One goes with the other, a fact to which we are not oblivious. We will work with the community to get the strategy right.

There has been a decrease in funding across all Departments, but the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation has been lucky enough to increase funding through the competitive fund group in recent years. The fight will be to have extra money spent on this area. That is what the strategy is for. It sets high targets that we must achieve to match our European colleagues. This will provide extra resources for all levels of research.

We are using international definitions; it is not a case of merging two together. They are the OECD categorisations and we do not change them. I will work with all sectors and all voices in this area to get it right. There is no doubt about this.

Written Answers follow Adjournment.
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