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

First, I congratulate you, a Chathaoirligh, on your appointment and wish you well. The committee has been very ably guided in recent times by Deputy English and I know you will continue that. The committee has been extraordinarily constructive in its approach. We might not share what the solutions are in all cases, but there is certainly a shared view that we must transition the economy from where we found it in each sector and grow new sectors that are strong and sustainable. The main headings under which our Department operates - jobs, enterprise, innovation and regulation - are all designed to create quality job opportunities and to build long-term competitive advantage on the basis of high quality of work, good working environments and good quality products and services. That is what drives us.

We have used the Action Plan for Jobs as a way of seeking to embrace wider Government Departments as well as our own Department and agencies to focus on the employment challenge. That has been successful. There is a genuine focus, driven from the Taoiseach's office, on delivering in this area. It is heartening that we are seeing good signs of progress. We have now gone through seven quarters in a row in which there has been net jobs growth and the number on the live register has fallen for more that 24 months in a row. We are making progress and there is a reduction in the levels of emigration. However, I am acutely conscious that unemployment at 11.2% and emigration at 21,000 net are still at high figures, which indicates that we have a long way to go. Our effort is to continually sweat the assets we have in the different areas to try to deliver more.

Both of the Department's agencies, the Industrial Development Agency, IDA, and Enterprise Ireland, EI, had a record year last year in terms of net job growth, and they look set to continue that. The year to date figures for both agencies are very encouraging. It will be of interest to the committee to see there is an encouraging sign within the IDA folder that there is a better regional spread, which has been a concern of committee members.

With regard to the newly established local enterprise offices, LEOs, we will shortly publish an entrepreneurship strategy. Like many members of the committee, I believe we must nurture a strong entrepreneurial capability within our communities. The LEOs with their new mandate will be at the heart of that. It is encouraging to see signs of a renewed and fresh interest among people in setting up their own businesses and I hope we will be in a position to cater for that. Interestingly, and Deputy Lawlor has mentioned this on numerous occasions, this year we had a competition to find the best young entrepreneur on a county, regional and national basis and there has been a very strong response. We will be investing in those who hit the high quality standards.

Last year we targeted women entrepreneurs, who were under-represented, as well as youth entrepreneurs, and there is scope for us to build a stronger capacity for starting new enterprises, seeing them survive difficult periods and grow to scale. That will be important.

With regard to overall competitiveness, it is again encouraging to see that we are continuing to improve in international rankings. That is very much part of what we need to deliver. We have become a more competitive environment, which definitely helps when one is looking to get into boardrooms and compete against many other countries for mobile investment. Being able to point to the progress we are making in many areas is very important. The message is clear that if we want to continue this progress, it is important that we sustain the focus on competitiveness. We will continue to participate at the European level, where we touch upon several councils, including the research council and the industry or competitiveness council. We also work with the employment council, as well as several others. There are opportunities coming from those global programmes run by the European Union, and the Minister of State, Deputy English, will no doubt deal with our ambitions relating to Horizon 2020, the single biggest source of European support that can be won for enterprises in Ireland.

We have also continued to undertake structural reform, and I again express appreciation to the committee for its support in facilitating the passage of the new competition and consumer commission. It is an important consolidation and the workplace relations commission will be another piece of important public service reform that will deliver better value and responses for those who use the service. In the same way, we have integrated Forfás into the Department to give it a policy capability which it did not have. It is important to give the Department the capacity to develop policy and also hold our own agencies to account in a more forensic way. That is an important area, and I know Deputy Tóibín has very strongly addressed the need for performance indicators. Having that capability would allow us to develop those in a more effective way, and that will certainly be a theme as we approach this year's action plans for jobs. We want to put performance indicators into the heart of the process, as I know the matter has caused concern.

I congratulate Deputies Nash and English on their appointment to the ministerial team for the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. They will both bring great skill and experience to the work, and they have already made a mark in a very short period. The Minister of State, Deputy Nash, could not be here today but I welcome Deputy English to the ministerial team. I also take the opportunity to thank Deputies Sherlock and Perry for their work in the Department. We have had a focused approach in delivering important objectives for all of us and having a team to work across the Department in that way has been really important. It is exciting that the appointment of Deputy English as Minister of State brings together the enterprise and training elements. Previously, a single Minister of State did not span those responsibilities, so we now have an exciting opportunity. It was a good change to the administrative roles of Ministers of State. I look forward to seeing the opportunity that offers.