Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief.

The work of my Department is essentially work connected with the transition of the Irish economy from the model which got us into trouble, namely, construction, debt and property, to a new model based on enterprise, innovation and exports. This is the journey we are seeking to travel. We have introduced the concept of an action plan for jobs which essentially is a whole of Government instrument to try to engage every Department in so far as they impact on the work of this journey. There is good traction within the system in that we have quarterly reporting on specific actions. Each year we look afresh at what can be done the following year. For example, last year we looked at what could be done in 2013. We are receiving significant levels of submissions, including from this committee, which inform the work we take on.

In terms of how we are succeeding on our journey, while it is early days yet the IDA has had its best year in a decade in terms of it having secured 6,500 net jobs. Enterprise Ireland, which secured 3,500 net jobs, has also had a good year. This compares with a decline in this area during the past four years. Overall, according to the CSO, approximately 25,000 jobs have been created in the private sector. We have had a good export-led recovery and are now beginning to see some of that spill into other parts of the economy, although by no means all areas. There are continuing declines in construction and other areas.

Reflecting that exports have done well, a problematic issue, of which members of the committee are well aware and one which we must continue to address, is access to finance. Members will be aware that in this regard we have put in place a number of State designed instruments, including microfinance, seed finance, scaling finance and development capital, the cost of which when combined amounts to €2.5 billion. While these instruments are in their infancy, take-up in respect of some has been good. There is more work to be done in promoting them.

We have also looked at the range of enterprise support available and have sought to deepen it and make it more export oriented through the establishment of the first time exporters division. We have also introduced new instruments such as Connect Ireland which is tapping into a range of areas not tapped into by the IDA. We have sought to reform many areas from wage setting mechanisms to access to finance, including the innovation strategy on which the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, will comment. This year there will be what are termed disruptive reforms, which include actions in areas such as big data, encouraging people to recruit from the live register, buying into energy efficiency and so on. A number of these actions are outlined in the action plan. These are important in the context of continuing the momentum for change and drilling down to sectoral level. For example, the recently published manufacturing strategy.

In terms of reform, we have a pretty active work programme of consolidating and improving the manner in which the Department and its agencies work. This includes the work place commission on which the committee held hearings, which relates to a reduction from five to two in the number of agencies in the employment rights and industrial relations area. This work is continuing and is resulting in a better service. Also, legislation in this area is currently being drafted. The amalgamation of FÁS into the Department is ongoing, the rationale for this being that we need stronger policy making capability within the Department so that we can create a better framework. There are many other regulatory reforms taking place. Many of our agencies have committed to reduced regulatory burdens. The Department met its 25% target by 2012. This work is ongoing.

A big item on our agenda this year has been the EU Presidency. There were a number of important actions in play in this context, including Horizon 2020 about which the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, will speak later.

The Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, will speak about our ambition to achieve a mandate for EU-US trade negotiations. Later this week we will host a key meeting of trade Ministers to deal with that. Progress has also been made on preparing financial instruments, such as the programme for the competitiveness of enterprises and SMEs, the accounting directive and the unified patent courts.

We are continuing the process of transforming our economy. While people recognise that some progress has been made, it has not reached everyone's door and levels of unemployment remain very high. I have confidence that we are travelling down the right road by building solid sectors with long-term sustainable futures in IT, medical devices, food and tourism. Although people will not yet see a huge transformation, we can see the shape of what is emerging.