Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 April 2013
140. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he expects to achieve targets in respect of job retention and job creation; if he has identified any particular issues likely to impact on performance in this regard; the degree to which he expects an increase in job creation in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18577/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn the Action Plan for Jobs, the Government has set an ambitious target of having 100,000 more people at work by 2016. As I have pointed out previously to the House, achieving this target requires a transformational change to our economy. This Government, when it came into office, was starting from a position where more than 250,000 private sector jobs had been lost in the previous three years. This was primarily the result of relying, for a number of years, on economic growth fuelled by a property price and construction sector bubble.
The new economy which we need to build must be based on enterprise, innovation and exporting. The transformation which we need to bring about will require progress on a number of fronts, including fixing our banking systems, reforming the public sector and embedding a jobs agenda across Government through the Action Plan for Jobs. Key areas which I have been working on directly to support job creation by enterprise include improving access to finance for businesses, reforming the statutory wage setting mechanisms, reducing other costs and administrative burdens for enterprise, improving our export performance, and supporting innovation. Details of progress on these measures are available in the Quarterly Progress Reports on the Action Plan for Jobs which are available on my Department’s website.
This is a huge task, but we are making progress. We are climbing back up the international competitiveness tables again; our exports are at record high levels, not even seen at the peak of the boom; IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland had their best years for jobs growth in 2012 for ten years and five years respectively and overall, the level of private sector employment is stabilising.
While these signs of recovery are welcome there is much more to be done to get more of our people back to work. That is why the 2013 Action Plan for Jobs is more ambitious than the 2012 Plan and it introduces the idea of Disruptive Reforms, seven significant projects that require cross Government collaboration that can make a real difference to enterprise and jobs. The goals attached to them are ambitious in nature and they have aggressive timescales in which they will be delivered. They will also require new ways of working.
We are making real progress, but I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge that still faces us. As a small open economy, we are influenced heavily by the challenging developments in international markets. However, the merit of the Action Plan for Jobs is that every year, each Department is required to focus on changes that can be brought about to make a practical contribution to the target of supporting the creation of 100,000 extra jobs in the economy by 2016.
