John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 8: To ask the Minister for Jobs; Enterprise and Innovation if he has had any involvement in the establishment of the New Era in view of its job creation remit; the role he will take when the agency is established; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28842/11]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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On 29 September last, the establishment of NewERA was announced by the Minister for Finance, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and Minister of State Fergus O'Dowd, who has special responsibility for NewERA. The Government took the decision to establish NewERA to reform the manner in which Government manages its shareholding in the semi-State companies. It is one of the key commitments in the programme for Government and is central to our plans for investment.

NewERA will initially be established on a non-statutory basis as a shareholder executive within the NTMA. It will have responsibility for reviewing capital investment plans of the commercial semi-State companies from a shareholder perspective and will identify possible synergies between investment programmes of different State companies. The companies in question are the ESB, Bord Gáis, EirGrid, Bord na Móna and Coillte.

The decision to establish NewERA is an important element in the Government's strategy to create jobs and promote economic growth. The operation of NewERA will be overseen by the Cabinet committee on economic infrastructure, of which the Minister, Deputy Bruton, is a member.

The Government is doing everything it can to create jobs and improve Irish infrastructure. Part of this is to ensure that critical infrastructure is put in place to allow enterprise to grow now and in the future and take advantage of the opportunities which arise in traditional and emerging sectors.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I deduce from the Minister of State's response that the most extraordinary situation now exists and that something which is central to the Government's job creation programme will only involve the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in a peripheral way. He will be a member of the Cabinet sub-committee which will discuss these issues in a general way and sign off on them, but the other Ministers mentioned are the ones who will be centrally involved. I find this very strange, but perhaps the Minister of State can allay my fears.

When NewERA was first mooted by the Fine Gael Party, the target was 105,000 jobs. Does that remain the target or has the target moved? Is there any target now.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The fact that Deputy Fergus O'Dowd is the Minister of State with responsibility for NewERA is incidental in terms of this being a whole Government approach to the issue. We should not underestimate the fact that the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Deputy Bruton, is on the Cabinet sub-committee. There is a corporate view at Government level between the two parties of Government of the need to ensure we have an entity that will carry out a corporate governance function from a shareholder perspective and that will report to the relevant Ministers and be overseen by the Cabinet committee on economic infrastructure. The bottom line is that it is a whole of Government approach. Through NewERA, the Government is taking control of the infrastructure as per the semi-State companies involved.

Regarding the second part of the question on the jobs target, the key emphasis is to ensure we get it up and running. We must get the key strategic infrastructure fund in place through the NPRF and we must become more efficient in terms of how we run these companies. Infrastructure is the key at this point.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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I am glad the Minister of State has confirmed that the jobs target has disappeared. When this programme was first mooted in November 2009, the proposed expenditure was €18.2 billion. It subsequently dropped to €7 billion and it is now at €2 billion or 10% of what it originally was. The funding for this appears to come from the sale of strategic State assets. The troika has not yet given permission to invest the proceeds in that way. Why was there a public announcement of NewERA, with expenditure incurred in setting it up and allocating staff, when there is no guarantee that the body will be able to spend any money arising from the sale of State assets?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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There is a commitment in line with obligations to the troika in respect of non-strategic State assets. Deputy O'Dea is aware of why we are in that position. The key issue is that, following the appropriate legislative changes, resources will be channelled from the NPRF to productive investment. We are talking about productive investment in the Irish economy. I realise there may not be a specific target of a number of jobs. Although one of the parties in government set out a specific target as part of its manifesto, there is a programme for Government and a clear convergence in terms of what both parties are trying to achieve. We must be mindful of targets and ensure we have an efficient organisation in NewERA to manage infrastructure and investment in partnership with the NPRF, using the strategic infrastructure fund, which will be the forerunner to the strategic infrastructure bank.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Many of us on this side of the House believe that the move to sell State assets is a shameful betrayal of the public interest. However, given that the Government and the troika are determined to go through with it, can the Minister of State be more specific about the jobs created from this process? From the answer to Deputy O'Dea, should I take it that we do not know many jobs we will create, what projects we will engage in and the funds available to NewERA until the troika gives us permission and gives us the answers to these questions? Can the Minister of State be more specific on his role in deciding the projects, the amount available for the projects, and the number of jobs created?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Discussions with the troika are ongoing this week in respect of the issue. We are ensuring that we can leverage State assets to create jobs. Deputy Boyd Barrett has a political philosophical view on selling State assets that must be respected but there is a process of engagement with the troika in which commitments are given by this Government, which is sovereign. We are not going to disavow those commitments but, as a Government, we are in the business of seeking to ensure we can get out of this economic morass. The sale of State assets is one mechanism by which we can do this. We want to create an efficient tool called NewERA so we can ensure that we can leverage the assets to create jobs. I cannot give an exact answer of pounds, shillings and pence for the number of jobs we can create.

Willie O'Dea (Limerick City, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister of State should guess.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The assets will be used in a way that seeks to leverage them to create jobs and we have not maximised the potential of those State assets heretofore.