John Perry (Sligo-North Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The policies being pursued by the Department are having a positive impact in supporting enterprises and job creation. Despite international and domestic difficulties, there was an annual increase in employment of 20,500 people, net of public sector reductions, in the first quarter of 2013. The unemployment rate decreased from 15% in the first quarter of 2012 to 13.7% in the first quarter of this year, the first time it has fallen below 14% for some years.

In 2012 Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland companies had their best performance in many years, with the agencies' clients creating nearly 10,000 additional jobs between them last year. This reflects the major effort that has gone into key programmes operated by them. These include competitive start funds for specific groups of very early stage entrepreneurs and high potential start-ups; a pilot initiative which will focus on enabling companies to research, evaluate and plan market entry strategies in new geographical markets; LEAN initiatives on enhancing productivity; and the introduction of a development capital fund scheme.

In regard to foreign direct investment, IDA Ireland has partnered with companies across five key areas to transform their businesses by way of training support, technology uplift, research and development, and product improvement. In addition, the Succeed in Ireland scheme was launched and there has been a greater focus on new and emerging companies and sectors.

The Action Plan for Jobs is a key vehicle for implementing specific and practical measures to support the enterprise sector. A number of substantial actions have been delivered through this process by my Department to enhance the business environment. These include the introduction of measures to improve access to finance for businesses such as the micro-enterprise loan fund, the temporary credit guarantee scheme, the development capital scheme and the seed and venture capital scheme. New structures have been put in place in Enterprise Ireland to assist companies seeking to grow their exports. Meanwhile, the first of the new local enterprise offices was launched in May, heralding the start of a radical reform of the system of supports for micro and small enterprises. There has been a stronger focusing of our research investment through the work of the research prioritisation group. In addition, we have been looking at sectors such as manufacturing, construction, retail and the green economy, among others, to see how best they can be developed.

Progress reports on the delivery of the full range of measures under the Action Plan for Jobs are published on my Department's website on a quarterly basis.

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