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

Since Action Plan for Jobs was introduced in 2012, the Government has implemented over 500 actions to support job creation across all Government Departments and a significant number of State agencies. The aim of the action plan is to create a supportive operating environment for businesses in order to allow employment to grow across all sectors.

The 2012 action plan contained 270 actions and 92% of these were delivered by the end of that year. The 2013 plan contained 333 actions and had a 90% implementation rate. Those commitments which were not implemented on schedule in 2012 and 2013 were carried forward to the subsequent year’s action plan or replaced with more targeted measures.

A key strength of the action plan process is its cumulative impact. Each year’s plan builds on measures which have been initiated in the previous year. The 2014 plan was launched on 27 February and continues to build on many of the actions contained in the 2012 and 2013 plans. Successful initiatives are mainstreamed or extended where their performance is positive. It contains 385 actions for delivery across all Departments and 46 agencies, including measures to continue developing six of the disruptive reforms and many of the sectoral initiatives launched in 2012 and 2013.

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