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

I thank the Deputy for his good wishes in respect of the Presidency. It is an ambitious programme. Yesterday, the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, and I attended a number of committee meetings and the size of the operation is formidable.

I assure him that Action Plan for Jobs has initiated a change in the way Departments work and this can be seen throughout Departments. The Department of Justice and Equality has introduced reforms to the visa system for investors, while the Department of Health has established a health innovation hub. Irish companies were never previously allowed to test their products in real life scenarios in our hospitals. The Minister for Finance also announced an SME strategy in the Budget Statement and the Minister for Education and Skills has doubled the ICT skills output. We also have the national broadband plan. They do not have specific job targets but they are crucial in creating the transition we need to make. It is a little naive to talk about setting job creation targets for individual Departments because it does not work as simply as that.

I also assure the Deputy that an effective implementation policy is run from the Taoiseach's Department. Two Forfás officials have been assigned to support his Department in that work and, therefore, it is centrally monitored. It is my strong belief that rather than a line Department seeking to monitor other Departments, it is much more effective to have his Department overseeing this.

See this speech in context