Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 56 together.

Manufacturing is a key priority of enterprise policy. It comprises 64% of Enterprise Ireland-supported jobs and over 50% of IDA-supported jobs in 2011, and 194,490 persons were employed in agency assisted manufacturing companies in 2011.

The Action Plan for Jobs includes measures aimed at exploiting sectoral opportunities, including those in the manufacturing and services sectors. I have established amanufacturing development forum to set out a strategic vision for 2020 aimed at increasing employment in the sector. Its membership comprises key industry players and I have instructed the forum to identify impediments to job creation in manufacturing areas and opportunities for immediate job creation. High value production is the future of indigenous manufacturing, and growth sectors are pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agriculture and food, medical technology and ICT. A number of steps have been taken to enable indigenous manufacturing firms to specialise, develop skills and value and scale up, including the launch of the new potential exporters division, Enterprise Ireland’s lean business offer, the new development capital scheme and improvements to the research and development tax credit scheme.

Forfás data show that manufacturing employment grew by 1.1% in 2011, an increase of 2,198 jobs. This reverses a trend of four continuous years of job losses, when almost 45,000 jobs were lost in manufacturing. The bulk of the growth was in foreign-owned industry but indigenous manufacturing also increased slightly, with 92,507 employed by Irish-owned companies. Employment growth in Irish manufacturing companies has been especially strong in the medical device, food and ICT sectors.

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