Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 154: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment her plans to improve the prospects for the manufacturing and service sectors in the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45298/08]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish economy is now one of the most globalised in the world. As a consequence, the uncertainty created by the current international financial crisis has had a significant impact on our economy. Our comparative advantage will increasingly lie in the production of knowledge-intensive goods and services. With that in mind, a range of policies are being pursued to enhance competitiveness and improve the business environment for both manufacturing and services.

Maintaining the competitiveness of the enterprise sector in Ireland is a priority issue for my Department and our development agencies. In order to sustain and grow the manufacturing sector, Irish based manufacturing enterprises will be encouraged and assisted to continue the progression to high value added sectors and activities, and continue to increase productivity through investments in human capital, technology and innovation.

The "Report of the High Level Group on Manufacturing", launched earlier this year, identified 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 report contains 26 recommendations directed at key areas of innovation and productivity leading to transformational change, reskilling and management development for the innovative firm, increasing awareness and take up of existing supports.

The Social Partners agreed, as part of the recently concluded review of "Towards 2016", that a Manufacturing Forum should be established, in line with the recommendations of the High Level Group on Manufacturing. This matter is currently being progressed by my Department in consultation with the Department of An Taoiseach and the Social Partners.

We continue to be one of the world's leading service exporting countries. Over the next ten years, services will be one of the key drivers of Ireland's economic success and job creation. The report of the Services Strategy Group, "Catching the Wave: A Services Strategy for Ireland", sets out new policy proposals on how we can ensure the continued development and growth of Ireland's services sector and outlines how to maximise the future returns to the country from services activities in all enterprises, both current and potential. Implementation of the recommendations of the Services Strategy Group — some of which are already being acted on by the Enterprise Agencies — will enable Irish service companies to exploit new and exciting opportunities, such as eLearning, business and financial services, professional and consultancy services and others.

I recently launched Enterprise Ireland's strategy for the internationalisation of Ireland's services sector, which the agency estimates could yield up to €1.14bn in new export sales for Ireland by 2010, and a doubling of exports sales in this sector to €5.25bn by 2015. I also announced Enterprise Ireland's new "Going Global Fund" — a €3m government fund specifically aimed at locally traded companies that have successfully established businesses in Ireland and wish to explore opportunities to sell abroad.

The economic environment is more challenging than we have seen for many years, however we have the foundations in place for long term economic growth through the adoption of this series of proactive policies and strategies that best serve the interests of the manufacturing and services sectors.