Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)

On job creation, this Department must deal with the reality of the capital funding available to it. On 10 November the Government published its infrastructural and capital investment medium-term Exchequer framework for the period 2012 to 2016. Overall, capital investment totalling €17 billion has been allocated across Departments. In one way or another, all of this €17 billion ultimately has a focus on job creation. The Government's role is to create the conditions within which it will maximise the impact of this capital allocation and support the private sector in the creation of jobs. Within the medium-term framework the State's support to enterprise and innovation has been protected and prioritised and clear targets for job creation have been set. When averaged over the lifetime of the framework, the job creation targets for Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland are set to approximately 22,659 per annum.

The capital allocation for programmes funded by the Department is to be increased in 2012 to €514 million, an increase of €6 million on the 2011 allocation, and supports to industry will be maintained in excess of pre-recession levels when total capital expenditure was at its highest. This represents a strong commitment in this Department to the development of enterprise and provides the development agencies with sufficient resources to target aggressively the projects and investments that will drive economic renewal. In setting out this level of capital investment in the productive economy the Government has been cognisant of issues, including maximising the achievement of value for money and the sustainability of job creation measures.

While the notion of spending an additional €3.1 billion per annum on job creation might sound attractive, what the economy needs is structural change. The Government must ensure the enterprise development supports and agencies are fit for purpose and well positioned to help Ireland to move out of the current downturn by creating sustainable jobs and continuing to grow exports in traditional key markets, as well as targeting high growth markets such as the BRIC countries for both exports and inward investment. The Government has made inroads in bringing about these changes, as well as restoring confidence across enterprise, investors and consumers. For example, work is advanced within the Department on determining the extent of the restructuring of the county enterprise boards; IDA Ireland has restructured in order that more of its staff are in client-facing jobs, while Enterprise Ireland has made operational a new potential exporters division which will target companies with export potential. These are just a few examples of the changes being brought about.

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