Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 132: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which adequate provision is being made in the area of job creation and employment sustainability in an increasingly competitive market; her plans for improvement in this area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20214/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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There is currently a budget provision of over €500 million for capital investment in enterprise. This is a clear statement of our priorities in relation to job creation and employment sustainability and the investment will be aimed at the most productive sectors of our economy in relation to both indigenous industry and foreign direct investment.

Assistance also needs to be available to companies that are basically viable but may need some additional supports in order to sustain employment. In this regard, I recently announced a €100 million Enterprise Stabilisation Fund which will enable internationally trading companies survive the current global downturn by supporting their drive to reduce costs and gain sales in overseas markets. Sustainable economic recovery will be driven by enterprises focused on increasing their exports of innovative products and services in global markets.

Furthermore, Enterprise Ireland and the County and City Enterprise Boards are focused on supporting entrepreneurs and encouraging entrepreneurship in Ireland. The development of Irish businesses is central to our economic recovery. Enterprise Ireland, in recognising the significant changes in the current economy both in Ireland and globally, has prepared a new recovery strategy to identify the actions that will be undertaken to help clients in 2009. The agency has refocused its efforts on strengthening and sustaining companies of strategic importance through a range of initiatives focused on the needs of their client base and has developed a series of proposals which deal with access to finance, winning new sales, encouraging competitiveness, continuous innovation and R&D, and development of entrepreneurship.

The level of foreign direct investment in Ireland, relative to the size of the economy, is one of the highest in the world. There are almost 1,000 companies from overseas employing approximately 136,000 people. Even in these difficult economic times, there is still investment from abroad to be won. While IDA Ireland's focus is on securing investment from new and existing clients in the areas of High End Manufacturing, Global Services (including Financial Services) and Research, Development and Innovation, there are three new sectors that are also being targeted – Convergence, Cleantech and Innovation/Services. In an effort to increase investments in Ireland, the agency has expanded its personnel in the United States and has recently set up offices in India and China and continues to explore options in other economies.

I am confident that the pro-enterprise strategies being pursued will address the area of job creation and employment sustainability.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 133: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the cost of the creation of an average industrial job here; the annual cost of sustaining such jobs; the degree to which this compares with other jurisdictions both inside and outside the European Union with particular reference to the cost in other competing economies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20215/09]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Data on the cost of average industrial job creation is not available. However, the Forfás annual employment survey calculates the cost per job sustained in respect of both Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland. The figure is calculated by taking into account all agency expenditure to all firms. Only jobs created during and sustained to the end of each seven-year period are credited in the calculations. In the case of Enterprise Ireland, the estimated average cost per job sustained for the period 2002-2008 was €8,235. The estimated cost per job sustained in IDA supported companies for the same period was €13,202. This represents an overall average of €10,569.

A different system is used by the City and County Enterprise Boards (CEBs) to calculate cost per job data. The estimated overall average cost per net job created in companies assisted by these boards, since their inception in 1993 to end 2008, is €5,949.00.

It is not possible to produce meaningful data to compare cost per job across different countries, as public spending on factors such as infrastructure or education, costs such as energy or wage costs, as well as the skills base of the workers, are all factors contributing to overall competitiveness which in turn determines the number of jobs in the internationally traded sector in each country.