Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on the likely impact of the recent fall in exports on employment levels in the State; how exporting firms can be assisted in maintaining and winning new markets in the context of the ongoing eurozone economic weakness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33643/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland's open economy needs to have the export of goods and services at the heart of its economic strategy. The excessive reliance on property in the years up to the crisis was not only unsustainable but also undermined Ireland's competitiveness in export markets and caused a steady decline in our export market share. The economic transition we are now undertaking must be founded solidly on exporting, with the innovation and enterprise that is necessary to support it.

Employment in agency-supported exporting companies fell by more than 46,000 between 2007 and 2010. However, in the past two years this has been reversed and 22,000 net additional persons are now at work in those exporting companies. This has been built on strong performances by Irish and foreign-owned companies in export markets. The fall in exports recorded in the first quarter has broken this trend. My Department and agencies are closely monitoring the situation. It is clear there has not been a negative impact on employment during that first quarter. A number of factors are at work, such as the repricing of pharmaceutical products coming off patent and a downgrading of demand in many of our key trading partners. Other sources of data suggest that export growth can be sustained. It is clear, however, that we cannot take export growth for granted.

This underpins the importance of building up our position in export markets through initiatives in trade promotion and innovation. In this context, Enterprise Ireland has established a potential exporters division as a new way of engaging with Irish companies and providing them with mentoring, business advocacy support and financial support. A pilot initiative will also be commenced to focus on enabling companies to research, evaluate and plan market-entry strategies in new geographical markets. A total of 15 ministerial trade missions will take place in 2013 to existing and emerging markets. In addition, Enterprise Ireland's overseas offices will work with indigenous companies to help them realise new market opportunities. We are developing a series of initiatives to assist our manufacturing companies to step up their performance and penetrate new markets.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Export growth in 2011 was 5.4%, compared to 1.6% last year. That is substantially below expectations. Goods exports, which are dominated by the pharmaceutical sector, were down by almost 10% on the corresponding period last year. Services exports from Facebook and the other new industries in which we have invested so much effort dipped in the first three months for the first time in three years of growth.

The lack of demand in our primary markets is out of the Minister's direct control, but what plans are in place at EU level to deal with this issue? The so-called compact for growth and jobs was announced last year but we have seen no initiative to back it up in order to sustain key European markets. I highlighted the upcoming patent cliff for the pharmaceutical industry with the Minister approximately six months ago. We have invested considerably over many years in developing the pharmaceutical industry and this Government continues to invest in research and development. However, while investment in research and development brings long-term returns, it will not create the jobs that are needed now. What is being done in the coming months to identify any further impact of the patent cliff? While the Minister indicated that employment growth was not negatively affected in the first quarter, it will follow if we allow this to become a trend.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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At EU level we put a strong emphasis on creating opportunities for growth in export markets during our Presidency. We successfully closed an agreement on a mandate for EU-US trade negotiations. These negotiations hold out the potential for increasing transatlantic trade between the EU and the US by 28%. If they can be concluded quickly they will offer good opportunities. Similarly, negotiations with Japan are ongoing and there are a number of opportunities in other free trade agreements.

Clearly, however, the EU has a broader base. There was a big emphasis on completing the Single Market and opening up freedom of access to public procurement and e-procurement, and to allow more exporting within the Community. The digital market is another area in which the EU sees opportunities for growth.

Domestically, the Deputy raised the issue of the pharmaceutical industry. The IDA and the Department have been acting strategically on this issue for quite some time by diversifying their packages. We are not simply dealing with the patent cliff and its impact but also seeing the growth of bio-pharma, which is compensating for areas of the sector that are in decline. The SSPC is a new €40 million research centre based in Limerick that is designed to support the process of diversification.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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Can the Minister give an indication of the most up-to-date figures for the first six months of 2013? Has the trend worsened or has it stabilised? At what level is the Department engaged in examining these figures in order to stem the fall in value of the exports on which the Department's credibility has been based over the past two and a half years?

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Both Enterprise Ireland and the IDA track investment, employment and volume flows. The trends are quite positive. We have encountered some difficulties in export markets but the April figures have shown recovery. There is a positive outlook among purchasing managers in respect of service prospects for the export markets. They are monitoring the trends closely but the signals are diverse. That only underlines the need to redouble our efforts to improve competitiveness in these markets and diversify into new and emerging markets. That is what the agencies are doing.