The establishment of a positive economic environment in order to facilitate job creation is one of the key objectives of this Government. Following last November's Government's Decision to progress an annual Action Plan for Jobs, my Department and its State Bodies have been actively involved in this exercise. Consequently, I expect that the 2012 Action Plan will be announced shortly and will include a specific section outlining the ways in which the agri-food sector will contribute to the overall job target.
This Action Plan links in with the Food Harvest 2020 report which set itself a target of increasing the value added of the agri-food and fisheries sector by €3 billion by 2020. I am particularly confident that there will be increased employment in dairy processing, the seafood and aquaculture industry and in the SMEs and micro industries. Overall, I plan to ensure that the concerted Government focus on jobs will underpin the current employment levels of 135,000, achieve a net gain of 7,500 in food and beverage companies while at the same time augmenting the equally important indirect employment impact.