Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the publication date for the Action Plan for Jobs 2013; if all actions set out in the Action Plan for Jobs 2012 will be achieved before work on the 2013 plan commences; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3307/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Work on the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 has already been under way for several months. The Government recently held a special Cabinet meeting on jobs, as we did last year, to ensure that every opportunity has been taken across Government to support this central priority of Government. I am currently finalising the 2013 plan on behalf of the Government. The action plan will be published in the coming weeks and will once again include a range of actions to be delivered across Government that will improve the operating environment for business, improve Ireland’s competitiveness and support job creation. This plan is a key instrument in our objective to transform the economy from one that became over dependent on property, construction and debt to one focused on enterprise, innovation and exports.

A final quarterly report on the implementation of the 2012 plan will be published very shortly. I anticipate that, in keeping with the high level of implementation reported for the first three quarters of 2012, the final progress report will indicate an implementation rate of close to 95% for all actions which were due to have been delivered last year. Any actions which were not fully implemented in 2012 will, for the most part, be included in the 2013 programme for completion. Often, this was due to slower than anticipated delivery of new legislation. A very small number of actions which were not possible to implement due, for example, to budgetary constraints, will be replaced with other deliverables in 2013.

Key objectives have been realised under the action plan for jobs in 2012, including implementation of measures to improve competitiveness, access to finance, support to enterprise and the development of sectoral strategies to protect and create employment. In 2012 there was also significant net job creation by Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland-supported companies, building on the positive results of 2011 and following successive years of significant net job losses.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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The Minister outlined many of the initiatives designed to create a better climate, yet the Nevin Institute estimated that the budget for 2013 will cost between 25,000 and 35,000 jobs, reduce GDP by 2.1% and lower private consumption. Its report stated:

Budget 2013 resulted in continued cuts in the public capital programme. This is likely to result in job losses in the short term, and in the long term severely reduce the ability of the economy to grow, sustain the level of national debt, and take advantage of any upswing in the world economy. There is a compelling case not only to accelerate investment in priority infrastructure areas but to bring forward plans to reform banking and to establish a Strategic Investment Bank as mentioned in the Programme for Government.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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I believe the point the Deputy is making is that if we did not have to engage in fiscal consolidation, money would not be taken out of the economy. Equally we inherited an economy in which government spending was running ahead of revenue by 40% to 45%, which nobody would argue is sustainable. It is not possible to sustain expansionary fiscal policy on the basis of such high levels of borrowings. We certainly cannot do so when the only source of borrowing we effectively have is the troika. We do not have the option of fiscal expansion in that context. The issue of stimulating investment relates to the instruments the Government has been addressing. The strategic investment fund is crucial and the Minister of State, Deputy Sherlock, just outlined some of the ways that is being leveraged up through the NPRF. Overall, those funds represent approximately €2.5 billion of new non-bank sources of finance being made available to SMEs in the various formats that have evolved. That is part of the strategic investment fund. That is what the Government is doing to make it easier to access finance. The Deputy is right in saying the banks have not fixed this problem. There is a long way to go before we have banks fit for purpose in the context of funding SMEs and considerably more work needs to be done in that area.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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There is talk of downsizing the public sector by a further 6% through renegotiating the Croke Park agreement. Through my business I have a number of units in the city centre. Every time a public sector job goes, there is less money in the pockets of people passing the doors of retail units. The biggest problem today in the retail sector is a lack of sufficient money in the pockets of the people who walk the streets. Every cent the Government takes has a counterproductive effect. As with other countries, this State borrowed so much for the banking sector. I made the point yesterday that the Americans borrowed $700 billion to invest into the banks on the basis that it would go towards helping people with mortgage difficulty and repossessions. Less than 1% of it went towards that - $4 billion out of €700 billion. We have had the same problem here with loans of more than €60 billion gone to banks. There is a good argument that giving money to the people who will spend it because they have no choice makes the economy healthier in the long term.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The difficulty is the State cannot use taxpayers' money to prop up consumption that is falling or to prop up spending in areas that are declining. There has been a huge shock in this economy with many jobs lost in the construction sector, which has had a huge impact. When it is on its knees financially, the State is not in a position to substitute for that spending in the economy. Therefore we need to try to use the money we have and spend it smartly.

We are trying to leverage up assets in the pensions reserve fund to fund the start-up of new companies in the export and enterprise sectors. That is the strategy. It is the only viable route we can go. We cannot bring back those jobs lost in sectors which grew too large or were unsustainable for different reasons. We must create sustainable jobs. This is what the resources of the State are being used for.

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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What about nurses and other people on low wages, all of which is spent on meeting their cost of living? Reducing the wages of nurses by 20% is not economically sound.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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We have to reduce spending by approximately €3 billion next year. We must at the same time try to maintain services in the health sector. A reduction in the cost of the public pay bill is clearly an element in our being able to maintain public services, including health and social welfare services and social welfare payments. There is a balance to be struck between the different ways in which one continues to deliver service. If one can reduce the pay bill and still deliver a quality service that must be done. Restructuring and redesign of ways of working forms part of getting ourselves out of our current difficulties.