Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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11. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of new enterprises set up under the aegis of her Department involving indigenous or foreign direct investment in the past twelve months; the quality of the jobs provided; the extent to which it was possible to obtain appropriately qualified staff for such venture; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22810/18]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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This question seeks to ascertain the extent of jobs arising from foreign direct investment and from indigenous investment in the past 12 months, and the extent to which it is possible to provide the skills requirements for such employment.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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The programme for a partnership Government sets the clear ambition to have an additional 200,000 people at work by 2020, with 135,000 of those additional jobs to be outside of Dublin. My Department and its agencies have this ambition at the heart of our enterprise strategy and Action Plan for Jobs and good progress is being made towards that target. According to the CSO, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April 2018 fell to 5.9%, a marked decline from 6.8% a year earlier in April 2017. Significantly, the seasonally adjusted live register figures were down to 229,600 according to the CSO, the lowest number since July 2008. The agencies of my Department have played a central role in supporting enterprise to sustain and create new jobs and indeed the employment levels in Enterprise Ireland, EI, and IDA Ireland supported firms reached record levels in 2017.

As market conditions and general economic outlook have continued to improve in recent years, there has been a natural tightening in the labour market, which has impacted on all enterprises, indigenous and FDI alike. My Department will continue to work with the Department of Education and Skills through the National Skills Council, the expert group on future skills needs and with education and training providers throughout the country to ensure we continue to provide the skills required for a growing economy.

In the case of EI-supported firms, 14,614 new jobs were created in 2017, with a net gain in employment of 8,945. This brought the total employed in EI-supported firms to 209,338 for the first time. Supporting entrepreneurs and new business formation is at the heart of our job creation strategy and in 2017, EI approved funding for 90 new high potential start up, HPSU, companies. HPSUs are defined by their potential to become exporting businesses which have ten or more staff and €1 million in sales within three years of starting up. Enterprise Ireland also approved funding across nine calls under the competitive start funds, CSFs, for 91 early stage start-ups in 2017. This included a call for up to €500,000 in funding targeted at experienced business professionals, and €1 million in funding for international entrepreneurs and recent graduates.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

A call for funding worth up to €750,000 targeted companies in manufacturing and internationally traded services and €1.5 million in funding was made available through regional entrepreneurship and FinTech CSFs.

In addition, in the period from 1 January 2017 to 30 April 2018, the local enterprise offices, LEOs, approved 360 priming projects. The number of priming grants is representative of the number of new enterprises established. These projects have the potential to create just over 1,400 jobs over the next three years.

Similarly, IDA Ireland is continuing to win new investment for Ireland, in a highly competitive global environment. The IDA set targets for the creation of jobs in Ireland over a five-year period from 2015-19 as part of its Winning strategy – this target was itself a 40% uplift on the previous strategy from 2010 to 2014.

In 2017 the number of new investments secured by the IDA was 237 and to date in 2018, the IDA has announced 32 new investments. As of the end of 2017, there is a record 210,443 people employed in IDA supported firms nationally, with a net increase in employment of 10,684 in 2017 over 2016. Key to the success of the IDA in winning new investment for Ireland is the quality of the talent and human capital here, which is a key element of the decision-making process by all existing and potential IDA clients to locate in Ireland.

Each investment project has a set of unique and quite specific skills requirement. The ability of the investor to source the very best quality people, with appropriate levels of training and experience is a prime consideration for the investor and a real location differentiator. Some of the skills required will be available from within Ireland, while others such as language skills may involve relocation from overseas or transfers from within existing companies.

The ability of Ireland’s skill base to help support the ongoing evolution of FDI companies in Ireland and to allow them to bid for new corporate projects as they arise is critical to maintain and build their long-term employment impact in Ireland. This is true both in the direct jobs created but also indirectly through the downstream jobs impact on Irish subsuppliers, and the economy in general.

Ireland’s availability of skilled labour is one of the primary reasons cited by IDA clients for establishing their operations in Ireland. A scaling up in the supply of domestic foreign languages capability in second and third level will enhance Ireland's proposition for foreign direct investment.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Can I further ask the degree to which Ireland remains an attractive location for foreign direct investment, given the degree of competition in the market place and having regard to issues such as Brexit and the challenges ahead? To what extent does the Minister of State see the FDI and indigenous sectors competing with each other, with the obvious consequent beneficial effect on the employment levels?

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Ireland remains a very attractive location for FDI. The Deputy spoke about competing. It is interesting to note that just last week Enterprise Ireland and the IDA got together to bring indigenous companies together with FDI companies in three locations - Dublin, Deputy Jan O'Sullivan's constituency of Limerick, and Sligo - where they competed with one another to subsupply into those FDI companies that are already in Ireland. It was a great success. There was great interaction between the indigenous Irish companies and the FDI companies we already have in this country. That is an example of collaboration and of how the two agencies work. That collaboration is extremely important for them. SMEs and micro-enterprises make up 98% of all enterprises in this country and employ almost 70% of the workers. The SME sector is extremely important, being the indigenous sector that Enterprise Ireland takes care of. FDI is extremely important but many small companies are set up from FDI and which subsupply such companies. That collaboration is extremely important, and we work really well in that regard, as well as in terms of the local enterprise offices.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Can I further ask the extent to which the jobs available are filled with the skill sets that are locally available? What are the trends there? Have the adequacy of that labour force going into the future and the hi-tech skills required been looked at? To what degree does the Minister of State's Department interact with other Departments, such as the Department of Education and Skills, to ensure that a steady flow of suitably qualified people remain available for both the indigenous sector and the FDI sector?

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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This question was asked by Members of the Opposition earlier today. It is a very good question and is an issue we are working on. The matter of upgrading skills is a matter for the Department of Education and Skills but we work very closely with it on this matter to outline the skills shortages that exist in the workplace at present. We are working together with third level institutions and multinational companies, and within my Department, to outline exactly what skills shortages exist. The future of work is changing. Digital technology is rapidly changing the way in which we do things and the type of companies we are attracting into Ireland are embracing the technology that already exists. I am talking about robotics, artificial intelligence, drone technology, virtual reality and artificial reality. Those areas are very much a part of what the future of Ireland will be based on. We want to embrace that technology and are putting a particular emphasis on ensuring that we have a skilled workforce. We are working with the multinational companies. The education system is changing as we ensure that more apprenticeships are being offered by companies. There is a lot happening, which is why we are the fastest growing economy in Europe and why we are a magnet for attracting FDI into the country. That will continue into the future. Last week I held the Digital 9 meeting in Dublin to outline exactly what we are doing to embrace the technology and ensure our third level institutions are open to that.