Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 18: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which he or his Department have examined or focused on the cause or causes of job losses throughout the country in the past six months; if he has proposals to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4173/08]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 63: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the action he proposes to take to improve the competitiveness of the economy thereby safeguarding jobs and discouraging relocation to lower cost economies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4172/08]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 and 63 together.

The last Quarterly National Household Survey on the labour market showed that the pace of employment growth actually accelerated slightly and employment over the year 2007 was up nearly 4%. Last year total employment in the country exceeded 2 million for the first time, an increase of 78,000 on the same quarter in 2006 and net job creation in both the IDA and Enterprise Ireland was the highest since 2000.

Information received by the enterprise development agencies from client companies which have closed plants or downsized their workforces suggests that job losses have been attributable to a range of factors including loss of contracts or a drop in demand for products, restructuring and rationalisation within companies and relocation of operations abroad. The last mentioned of these factors, according to the feedback from these companies, has been a relatively minor factor.

It would be entirely misleading to suggest that plant relocation or company restructuring giving rise to job losses, whether due to individual firm or sector challenges, indicate that whole economies are uncompetitive. Ireland is deeply connected with the global economy. Our success over many years in attracting industry leaders in advanced manufacturing and service companies has transformed our enterprise base. An increasing part of our economy is now sophisticated, highly productive and value driven.

What establishes the competitive credentials of the economy is our ability to replace quality jobs with others that are of the same or higher skill level. There is also no doubt that labour markets are changing at an increasingly fast pace due mainly to the impacts of globalisation, immigration and demographic factors. We are responding with new policies and new opportunities for our labour force. Labour market programmes play an important role by providing the skills needed for unemployed persons to get back to work while at the same time providing the skilled labour needed by employers to improve their productivity.

Fundamentally, our human resources are at the centre of our competitive advantage. Our National Skills Strategy sets out clear objectives for developing Ireland's human capital through upskilling, training and education. Our strategy will see an additional 500,000 employees being upgraded by at least one level on the National Framework of Qualifications by 2020. On training and skills development we have committed €7.8bn in the period 2007-2013 under the national Development Plan.

In addition to the National Skills Strategy, the Government has made a major commitment, through the substantial investment set out in the Strategy for Science, Technology & Innovation (SSTI) and the National Development Plan (NDP) 2007-2013, to making the transition to a knowledge-economy by funding world-class research in Ireland. Through the NDP and SSTI we are committed to providing €8.2 billion to ensure Ireland remains a key location for leading edge research and development, and the quality jobs it can deliver. This represents a tripling of the spend provided for under the previous NDP 2000-2006, bringing Ireland into line with R&D performance in leading countries.

Finally, I want to point out that on our overall competitiveness, Ireland stands out in a number of categories. Our stock of direct inward investment is 5 times greater than the OECD average. Ireland continues to attract a large number of international greenfield investment projects, relative to its size. UNCTAD's 2006 World Investment Report shows that we are number 1 in the OECD for the number of greenfield foreign investment projects per capita. The IDA confirm that the investment pipeline for 2008 remains strong.