Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

To back up Deputy Lawlor's last point, we have had feedback from businesses which are interviewing for internship positions that graduates are very frustrated when they discover they must be unemployed for up to six months before qualifying for JobBridge and other schemes. We accept that these programmes are primarily designed to get people off social welfare and back into work, but people coming out of college would benefit greatly from participating in them. Some graduates find the notion of having to sign on for three months or six months offensive and simply will not do it. There is a danger of people falling through the cracks, which would be a shame. Amending the scheme in some way to accommodate new graduates would be helpful. It is an issue being raised by both students and witnesses who have come before the committee.

I congratulate Mr. Murphy and Mr. Shanahan and their teams on the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs. The concept is perfect and makes total sense. I agree that in some cases it is about getting back to basics, which involves a certain amount of box ticking. The reality, however, is that if the boxes are not ticked, we cannot make progress on the larger issues. The overall concept has been right from the start and has proved very productive. Driving it forward is the key. The cross-departmental nature of the initiative is vital to its success, because it facilitates the decision-making progress. Witnesses have told us they are getting answers more quickly than in the past because there is co-ordination and momentum. It is the aim of every Department to find ways of creating jobs. What we finally have, in other words, is a whole-of-government approach.

I understand there was an opportunity for interested parties to make submissions on the proposals for 2014. Did many business people or organisations avail of that opportunity? Again, it is a question of the availability of information and whether it was widely known that the opportunity was there. If the take-up was not high, we should focus on more effective advertising of the process for 2015. It makes sense, as the action plan is rolled out for the third year, to involve as many stakeholders as possible.

Mr. Shanahan mentioned the success of the JobsPlus initiative. Can he give us updated data in this regard? The feedback that came through to the committee initially was that the scheme needed to be simplified, which I understand was done in the Action Plan for Jobs and is working well. Will Mr. Shanahan comment on that?

The plan for 2014 includes measures to help new businesses to grow, enhance their export capacity and so on. However, we are still seeing cases where people have an idea for a product or concept but do not want to form a company or are not in a position to do so. It is difficult to point such people in the right direction in terms of how they can progress their idea. We have the potential exporters division in Enterprise Ireland, the enterprise boards and so on, but where people have an idea or concept but do not necessarily want to set up a company, it can be difficult to point them in the direction of investors. There is a gap that needs to be addressed in terms of moving ideas through the system.

Reference was made to the various Forfás reports that have been published, including the report on future skills needs. That is an issue on which the committee has done some work and which we intend to return to in future. Another report dealt with the shortage of language skills among the Irish workforce, an issue that is not addressed in the Action Plan for Jobs. The ICT action plan, to give an example, has worked very well, but there has been little more than talk when it comes to developing jobseekers' language skills. Will this important issue feature in the plan for 2014? It is a problem that will persist for years. As it stands, significant numbers of jobs cannot be filled by our own people because they do not have the necessary language skills.

My final question relates to the immigrant investor programme operated by the Department of Justice and Equality. There is potential for a great deal of money to come in through that scheme but it is not working to its full potential. I understand it was reviewed last year and various changes were made, but it should feature more prominently in the Action Plan for Jobs. Perhaps there is a certain fear around it because it gives access to multi-entry visas and so on. There is a lot of money out there that could be tapped into by way of the scheme, money we badly need in this country. Although the programme comes under the remit of the Department of Justice and Equality, it might need to be driven to some extent by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation.

I accept that decisions are made by the various Departments but I am of the view that someone needs to drive the process in this regard to a greater degree if at all possible.