Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for the question. Obviously I am restricted in answering a question to account for my own stewardship, if one likes. My area of responsibility refers to the enterprise sector predominantly. There are targets; it is not that we have not set targets. To be fair to the previous Government, targets have been committed to by Enterprise Ireland to create 60,000 jobs over the period, by IDA Ireland to create 75,000 over the period to 2014 and by the tourism sector so we are working to specific targets. The jobs programme I indicated I have undertaken is to try to build on those - to look at new initiatives to underpin and, if possible, exceed those targets.

The Deputy is not accurate in saying the programme is exclusively dependent on the private sector. A key element of this is the development of the concept of NewERA, specific responsibility for which has been given to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Dowd. That is focused the capability of State enterprise to lay down important infrastructure for recovery and in that process not only create short-term employment in the construction phase, but also underpin strong enterprise growth in the longer term.

Internships and work programmes no longer fall within the remit of this Department and are now under the Department of Social Protection. If the Deputy looks at the programme for Government she will see a real plan emerging with a balanced set of measures across different areas where a government can take initiative. What is important is to bring that together within the first 100 days to a coherent jobs programme that will build a platform for further initiatives.

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