Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

The role of Government is not to create jobs directly but to put in place the environment where businesses can prosper and generate jobs. In this context, the objective of the forthcoming jobs initiative will be to put policies in place to improve the business environment in Ireland, drive competitiveness, continue to increase our exports and restore confidence in the economy, both internationally and domestically. The jobs initiative will support the maintenance of existing jobs as well as facilitating the creation of new ones. The initiative will include a range of measures which will be taken across all Departments, including my own, to stimulate the economy and help get people back to work.

It is likely that the impact of the jobs initiative on employment will be most visible from 2012 as economic activity picks up in response to the initiative and other Government measures. The stability programme update published on 29 April foresees net employment creation of the order of 100,000 over the period from 2012 to 2015. The presentation of the jobs initiative will be just the first step in the Government's plans to bring about economic recovery and incentivise employment. Following the publication of the jobs initiative, I will continue to work, along with the enterprise agencies and my colleagues in the Government, to develop a medium-term jobs programme.

We will develop policy on a number of fronts, such as improving access to finance for enterprises, getting our cost base right, helping businesses to be more innovative and to win new markets, and developing strategies to capitalise on Ireland's potential in key sectors such as life sciences, cloud computing, the digital gaming industry, the green economy and the international education sector. As outlined in the programme for Government, the Government will also implement a number of sectoral initiatives in areas that will create employment in the domestic economy. These include initiatives in the retail and SME sectors, ICT, agri-food, tourism, financial services, social enterprise, the green economy and education. We will introduce a new national development plan that reflects Ireland's changed economic circumstances, covering the seven-year period 2012-19.

As Minister with responsibility for enterprise, jobs and innovation, I will be monitoring closely the impact of the jobs initiative and subsequent strategies in the areas that fall under my remit.

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