Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 152: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her plans to improve competitiveness in respect of manufacturing and service industries with particular reference to the need to encourage ongoing inward investment and job creation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31053/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has transformed as an economy over recent years, and we are well positioned to continue this transformation over coming years. We will rely increasingly on the performance of the enterprise base, particularly the traded sectors to restore the economy to a growth path. Our competitive advantages which served us well in the past such as our skilled and flexible workforce, favourable regulatory environment and pro-enterprise policies will be preserved, developed and exploited to the full. We will also work on developing new sources of competitive advantage in areas such as our knowledge and skills base. We will ensure that our education and training systems are flexible and adaptive and are producing a talented workforce with the right balance of skills to meet the requirements of the changing structure of the economy into the medium to long term.

We will continue to nurture the strong enterprise spirit in the economy and we will shortly bring forward a policy statement on entrepreneurship that will further improve the range and delivery of the extensive support services available to entrepreneurs.

Enterprise policy has traditionally recognised the importance of services exports and I welcome the report of the Services Strategy Group, "Catching the Wave: A Services Strategy for Ireland", which was published on 12th September 2008. This Report sets out to broaden our thinking on how services can contribute to our success and identifies strategic aims for future services policy in Ireland. This report will guide the development of our services strategy into the future to exploit the opportunities which this sector presents.

Our manufacturing sector is in transition but is well positioned to meet future challenges. Ireland's manufacturing future depends on a manufacturing sector that is capital intensive, knowledge intensive and skills intensive, focused on developing innovative products, services and solutions and meeting the needs of markets and customers. The report of the High Level Group on Manufacturing identifies the focused actions needed by employers, employees and Government to respond to challenges and take advantage of opportunities to further develop the sector in Ireland. The Government is committed to ensuring the recommendations of this Group receive a high level of priority to ensure that the manufacturing sector continues to evolve and to provide high value added and high quality employment for the future. The Group's report is currently being considered by the Social Partnership Forum as part of the ongoing review of "Towards 2016".

Ireland maintains an open and attractive environment for overseas investment. The IDA continually adjusts its strategy to ensure that its offering to investors matches the changing requirements of the multinational companies it is targeting. Ireland continues to be capable of winning advanced, high value and high skill investments. In the first half of 2008, IDA announced 22 investments with a capital investment of €916m and a potential to create c.1600 jobs.