Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 September 2012
1356. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine the number of new jobs created by his Department as a result of the jobs initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37270/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra1357. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine the number of new jobs created by his Department as a result of the action plan on jobs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37286/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra1358. Deputy Dara Calleary asked the Minister for Agriculture; Food and the Marine the number of new jobs created by his Department as a result of budget 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37302/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 1356 to 1358, inclusive, together.
The focus of the Food Harvest 2020 report is to develop the agriculture, food and fishing sector and to leverage the growth envisaged in output and exports in order to protect existing jobs and to create new ones. The FH2020 Implementation Committee took an active interest in the 2012 Action Plan for Jobs and they monitored the 17 inter-agency projects included by this Department and relevant agencies in the 2012 AJP.
These and the other 215 recommendation in FH 2020 are largely capacity building measures which are directed at supporting and improving the employment potential of this sector. As such they do not readily lend themselves to annualised job targets. Indeed, the FH2020 report recognised that the greatest scope for employment gains would flow from the increased output in the dairy and aquaculture sectors. These productivity gains will be in medium term, as the abolition of milk quotas will not arise until 2015 and work remains to be done to ensure that aquaculture developments comply with national and EU environmental legislative guidelines. In that regard, a recent academic analysis by a working group, established by the Food Harvest implementation committee, suggested that the growth in the agri-food sector envisaged under FH2020 could realistically generate around 25,000 additional direct and indirect jobs by 2020.
Nevertheless, some progress has been made on stemming the previous decade’s job losses of around 1,500. The CSO estimates for food and beverage manufacturing show a welcome rise in employment levels. Their data, based on the National Quarterly Household Survey, indicates that employment numbers have increased from 43,900 in Q1 2010, 46,000 in Q1 2011 to 50,300 in Q1 2012.
This Department did not have a specific involvement in the Jobs Initiative which was primarily directed at fiscal and labour activation measures and while Budget 2012 contained a number of agriculture related taxation measures, these are primarily aimed at improving competitiveness and stimulating investment rather than at direct employment creation.
