Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 115: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment his views on current trends in relation to job loses; the reasons therefor; and if he has proposals for dealing with same. [24952/07]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There were 2,095,400 persons in employment at the end of May 2007. This represents an annual increase of 78,400 or 3.9%.

The pre-budget outlook forecasts employment to grow by 70,000 or 3.5% in 2007 and 26,000 or 1.25% in 2008. The ESRI forecasts employment to grow by 50,000 or 2.5% in 2007 as a whole and by 12,000 or 0.6% in 2008. In both cases we are forecasting continued employment growth, albeit not at the exceptionally high rates achieved in recent years.

There is a significant churn in employment. Traditional low cost industries are under pressure leading to some downsizing and closure. However, services and high-end manufacturing are now providing much employment. The Government has recognized the effects of globalization. The response is to ensure Ireland remains attractive for investment and enterprise growth. We now have a benign tax and regulatory environment, a better-educated workforce, an improving infrastructure and a commitment to world-class standards of research, development and innovation. Maintaining and improving on our standards is key to sustaining Ireland's competitiveness. The ability of an economy to create new and better jobs to replace those that are lost is the real test of competitiveness.

In a market orientated and vibrant economy, like Ireland's, there will always be job losses. That is the nature of the market economy that has brought extensive benefits and prosperity to the country over the past decade. Sensible economic and enterprise policies, supported by our Social Partnership process, have enabled our economy to grow. As the robust employment data showwe have consistently generated more jobs than have been lost, while the economy has been operating at full employment for a number of years.

A significant part of my job is to help create the conditions and context for growing high value jobs in Ireland in the medium to long term. Increasing international competition is creating pressure for improvements in efficiency, quality and productivity and a growing need to innovate. It requires forward-looking steps to develop a knowledge-based economy, to achieve real strategic change and show tangible results. The Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, addresses these very demanding challenges, and the NDP commitment of €8.2 billion over the 2007-2013 period provides the wherewithal to give concrete effect to the SSTI goals of stimulating knowledge creation and diffusing and applying such knowledge for purposes of Ireland's economic development.

Finally, insofar as individual company closures or downsizing is concerned, FÁS provide an integrated support service for people being made redundant because of company restructuring or closures. This involves information sessions, skills analysis, training/retraining courses and job placement. In the delivery of these services, FÁS liaises with other relevant agencies such as Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, the City/County Enterprise Boards and the Department of Social and Family Affairs. FÁS also works closely with the agencies to identify and support individuals who wish to start their own business.