Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Chairman. I will, however, try to keep to five minutes.

This discussion is, in a sense, very timely. I met the committee in February after we had just published the Action Plan for Jobs 2013. As we are now starting the process of engaging in consultation on the plan for 2014, it is timely to meet the committee.

I do not need to remind members of the action plan, but its concept is twofold. First, it tries to mobilise all Departments in the task of creating employment. Second, quarterly reporting means we harvest whatever is put forward. There is a strong sense of meeting these targets on time, which shows that we are delivering on the priority we have ascribed to the plan. By and large, the system has responded very well. A figure of over 90% has been delivered in all quarters in which we sought to deliver. Some things have proved more difficult, but most of them, though not all, are connected with the legislative process. It can be difficult to get the timing right for legislation; even with ambitions, one cannot have the desired timing.

Since February a number of things have happened that are worth recording. As the committee will know, the research prioritisation exercise seeks to identify key business areas and is within the remit of the Minister of State, Deputy Sean Sherlock. On the back of that scheme, we announced funding for seven Science Foundation Ireland research centres a couple of months back. They will be larger than in the past and there will be much more collaboration across the higher education institutes. Most importantly, they are characterised by industrial funding to a level of 30% which is designed to ensure their work is relevant. We will continue to build centres of excellence and full details are available. They are in areas in which Ireland has an edge and include a data analytical centre; a perinatal centre, one of our very specific centres of excellence; and one in the pharmaceutical sector in which we also have a very strong track record. The centres focus on areas where we have opportunities.

The committee will be interested to know that we launched our first local enterprise office in Fingal and that work is ongoing. As members will know, local enterprise offices will offer a first-stop-shop to enterprises. They will also develop centres of excellence, in place within Enterprise Ireland; develop policy for small and micro start-ups and tap into the local authorities, the most fundamental influence in terms of business opportunities in a local context. That is the ambition and the programme is being rolled out.

It is worth noting that the National Pensions Reserve Fund has moved very strongly to fund SMEs, with €850 million available to bring in partners. We are beginning to build a spectrum of SME funding options. The total is €2.5 billion for micro finance, loan guarantees, development capital, seed and venture capital and the new NPRF funding which includes equity and restructure finance. We are beginning to see the emergence of a stable of SME options. As the committee will know, access to finance remains challenging and needs continuing work.

We have published the manufacturing strategy and 2014 will be characterised by how we decide to take on that issue. We have introduced a number of innovations this year and I shall outline one of them. A number of industrial partners are providing assistance, particularly in the roll-out of the seven disruptive reforms. Their influence has been helpful and acted as a catalyst in bringing in partners to help the system to respond with greater ambition and a greater sense of combined purpose with industry.

Yesterday we published the JobsPlus initiative in response to complaints from businesses about the lack of cash up-front in some of the existing schemes. For example, if one recruits a person who is out of work for over 12 months from the live register, one gets cash up-front, which is paid monthly in arrears. It is €72 per week for a person who is out of work for one year which increases towards €100 per week for someone who is out of work for two years. Cash in hand helps cash flow and we hope the scheme will prove attractive.

Last week Forfás published positive employment figures for IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland companies. It confirmed that there were 9,600 additional people working. It also confirmed growth in a broad range of sectors and regions. On the export oriented side, there is a good spread. The CSO's quarterly national household survey of employment has confirmed these trends and that the number employed has increased by 20,000 in the last quarter, of whom around 10,000 are in export oriented sectors. That proves building export oriented sectors has a knock-on effect on the wider domestic economy.

We have tried to incorporate the committee's reports on unemployment, in particular youth unemployment, into our policy. However, many of the reports refer more to the sectors within the remit of the Minister for Social Protection and the Minister for Education and Science rather than my own. The apprenticeship review is under way and I hope it will lead to changes. We are examining the possibility of including social clauses in Government contracts to give preference giving work to unemployed persons. An interdepartmental group is examining how to assist the retail sector which I know has been a source of concern for the committee.

One of the committee's reports was on skills in the ICT sector. We have done some follow-up work on that sector in terms of rolling out additional personnel with these skills and making the permits system easier to use.

The committee has also raised the issue of mentoring. We are looking afresh at mentoring now that we have brought the local enterprise offices and Enterprise Ireland under the same umbrella. We shall try to co-ordinate mentoring activities more effectively to give a better service, provide specialists and so on. We have commenced work in that regard.

We have also appointed a group to examine the issue of entrepreneurship under the chairmanship of Mr. Sean O'Sullivan. It will examine whether we can do more. Recent numbers show there has been a decline in the number of start-ups, which clearly reflects the economic climate. However, we have seen continuing growth in some segments. We, therefore, need to take a fresh look at the issue of entrepreneurship to see if we can do more. The group will report in the short timeframe of a maximum of three or four months.

A consultative phase will commence shortly and we are keen to receive submissions from the committee or individual members.