Mr. William Parnell:

I would like to build on the theme of skills and youth unemployment from the perspective of the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation. I will also talk about cross-Border collaboration on enterprise development and job creation.

The education and training system is critical to support enterprise, growth and innovation. Providing young people with the education, training and skills that are relevant to the changing needs of the labour market is crucial, both to their own employability and to the development of the economy as a whole. Within the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, we work closely with our colleagues in the Department of Education and Skills, as well as the Department of Social Protection, on matters relating to education and training, skills development, and other labour market issues.

We in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation work closely with our colleagues in the Departments of Education and Skills and Social Protection on matters relating to education and training, skills development and other labour market issues. Our Department, in conjunction with the skills and labour market research unit of SOLAS, provides the secretariat to the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, which reports jointly to the Ministers for Education and Skills and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the existing and emerging skills needs of the economy.

The overarching role of our Department is to champion the enterprise agenda across Government and promote and implement policies that support enterprise growth and job creation. The Department funds the activities of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and local enterprise offices, LEOs. It co-funds InterTradeIreland with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland.

The Department is responsible for co-ordinating and publishing the annual Action Plan for Jobs, which is the Government's key policy instrument to support job creation. The action plan process has seen the delivery of more than 1,000 individual actions since the first plan was published in 2012. The action plans reflect many of the measures that have been introduced in recent years to reform the education and training system, which Mr. Baldwin discussed, and the high level of youth unemployment. Initiatives reflected in the action plan include the likes of the Youth Guarantee, Springboard, MOMENTUM, JobBridge and the ICT skills action plan.

In our consultations with stakeholders in preparing the Action Plan for Jobs 2016, we are once again hearing of the importance of the skills agenda to employers. As we emerge from the recession and see the economy beginning to recover, it is clear that a key issue for employers is finding the right skills to meet their needs as they grow their businesses. The war for talent is real, both for Irish companies and for multinational corporations based in Ireland. The 42,000 young people who are unemployed have a key role to play in meeting the emerging skills requirements of the enterprise sector. Economically and societally, it is important that we tap into this reservoir of talent. Ireland's competitive advantage in international markets will increasingly be driven by the availability of world-class skills at all levels.

A key objective of the Action Plan for Jobs process when it commenced in 2012 was to support the creation of 100,000 new jobs in the economy by 2016. This target has been exceeded, but tackling youth unemployment remains a challenge, one that is shared by many EU member states. In spite of economic recovery across most of the EU, the youth unemployment rate still exceeds 20% in many countries. In Ireland, the rate fell from a peak of over 30% in early 2012 to 20.7% in the third quarter of 2015. However, this is still more than double the national average of 8.9%, so our efforts must continue in order to support young people who are unemployed.

The Action Plan for Jobs is complemented by the Government's Pathways to Work strategy, which seeks to ensure that as many as possible of the jobs being created in the economy as it recovers are taken up by people on the live register. Pathways to Work is co-ordinated by the Department of Social Protection and focuses on actions to engage with and support the long-term unemployed and youth jobseekers on the live register. Within the pathways strategy, the Youth Guarantee sets a medium-term objective of ensuring that young people receive an offer of employment, education or training within four months of becoming unemployed.

Our Minister, Deputy Bruton, has placed a strong emphasis on supporting entrepreneurship, including young entrepreneurs. A key initiative in this regard is Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur, IBYT, competition, which was introduced last year. This initiative, which is run by the LEOs, builds from county-level competitions to regional and national finals. The competition has a total fund of €2 million and the overall national winners can receive an investment in their businesses of up to €70,000. This year, the competition attracted 1,400 applicants aged between 18 and 30 years, representing a 40% increase on last year. Twenty-four young entrepreneurs have reached the national finals, which will take place in the coming weeks.

Building on the entrepreneurship theme, I would like to mention some important areas of North-South co-operation in supporting enterprise development. As the committee will be aware, InterTradeIreland is one of the six North-South implementation bodies established under the Good Friday Agreement. It runs a range of initiatives and programmes for small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs, on both sides of the Border to help companies develop their capacity and drive competitiveness. It is co-funded by the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment in Northern Ireland. Since its establishment, 25,000 SMEs have benefitted from its cross-Border information, 6,000 companies have taken part in all-island programmes, and 3,000 new jobs have been created through the agency's support. InterTradeIreland co-operates with other enterprise development bodies in Ireland and Northern Ireland, including Enterprise Ireland, Invest Northern Ireland, and the LEOs. It will play a role in delivering its services through the regions of Ireland under the Government's new suite of regional jobs action plans.

Enterprise Ireland, the agency responsible for supporting the growth of indigenous enterprises, has forged extensive links with various agencies and bodies in Northern Ireland. Its work has focused on liaising with and participation in cross-Border bodies, such as the Ireland Fund, the International Fund for Ireland, the Special EU Programmes Body and local-authority-led cross-Border networks. Enterprise Ireland works closely with Invest NI. In November 2006, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the two agencies to enable clients of both to access each other's market services, trade missions and seminars. Recognising the benefits of pooling resources to support companies in overseas markets, the services of Enterprise Ireland and Invest NI's overseas offices are available to client companies across the island.

Enterprise Ireland and Invest NI run innovation voucher programmes, which are designed to assist small firms in accessing the innovative solutions that are available in the higher education sector. In May 2008, an all-island innovation voucher initiative was jointly launched by both bodies in Belfast. Through this initiative, small Irish enterprises in the Republic can access a further ten knowledge providers in the North. Similarly, small enterprises based in Northern Ireland can used their vouchers to access expertise in research institutions in the Republic. It is a good example of cross-Border co-operation in this enterprise space. Since 2008, companies from the Republic have completed 123 projects with Northern Ireland providers under this scheme, while Northern Ireland companies have completed 57 projects with knowledge providers in the Republic. The agencies continually engage in close co-operation on the development of this cross-Border initiative, normally meeting twice a year.

Enterprise Ireland continues to work with Invest NI when recruiting participants on its leadership for growth programme. Five CEOs from Northern Ireland participated in this between 2010 and 2013, and five Invest NI clients participate currently. Three Invest NI clients are participating in the international selling programme that Enterprise Ireland runs. Other areas of cross-Border collaboration for Enterprise Ireland include the Halo Business Angel Network, HBAN, a joint initiative with InterTradeIreland that is tasked with the development of business angel syndicates across Ireland.

Ongoing dialogue is taking place between Enterprise Ireland's public procurement department and various entities involved in Northern Ireland, including the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, the Technology Strategy Board and Invest NI. Enterprise Ireland also works closely with InterTradeIreland on the procurement agenda.

Regarding access to EU research funding, co-operative links continue between the national support structure for Horizon 2020, which is based in Enterprise Ireland, and Invest NI and InterTradeIreland. This aims to facilitate a more targeted co-operation in Horizon 2020 on an all-island basis.

The cross-Border 2008-14 INTERREG IVA programme is worth mentioning. One element of this programme was designed to promote enterprise and business development. A total of €70 million was provided for the enterprise strand, with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation contributing approximately €18 million. Our co-funders from Northern Ireland were the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment or the Department of Finance and Personnel, depending on the exact nature of the individual project.

Approximately 28 projects were involved in this INTERREG strand, the two most significant of which with a physical legacy being the provision of two multimillion euro science parks in Derry and Letterkenny and the provision of two enterprise centres, one in Omagh and one in Carrick-on-Shannon.

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to outline these developments and I am happy to take the committee's questions.