Written answers

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Department of Enterprise, Trade and Innovation

Unemployment Levels

9:00 pm

Photo of Willie PenroseWillie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the steps he is taking to combat the continuing high level of unemployment as indicated by the April 2010 live register figures and ongoing announcements of job losses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19172/10]

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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Jobs and economic growth are about direct and indirect measures. My Department and the state agencies have a role to play in both directly supporting business and ensuring that the policies pursued across Government are consistent and support our overall national objectives of reducing unemployment, regional development and building the smart economy.

My Department and its agencies, interact regularly and intensively via the Cabinet Committee on Economic Renewal and the Senior Officials Group that underpins it. The primary purpose of these interactions is to prepare and deliver the actions that have and will continue to drive recovery and growth, and they have a specific focus on employment creation and retention.

In addition, the wide range of direct enterprise agency supports are aimed at improving productivity, market knowledge, competitiveness, and leadership and management capabilities so that firms can compete successfully in international markets and grow their exports.

State supported indigenous companies currently employ 133,000 people. Enterprise Ireland's objective is to create a further 40,000 new jobs over the next five years. State supported foreign companies currently employ 124,000 people. IDA's objective is to create a further 62,000 new jobs over the next five years. The IDA and EI targets for job creation could lead to an additional 70,000 jobs elsewhere in the economy.

In addition, the County and City Enterprise Boards support micro-enterprises across the country. Companies supported under the Employment Subsidy Scheme and the Enterprise Stabilisation Fund have committed to maintaining over 100,000 jobs to the end of November 2010. We are also supporting companies with direct funding for R&D and through the recently enhanced R&D tax credit. Enterprise Ireland and IDA support companies ranging from Innovation Vouchers to large scale research programmes. We are funding collaborative research partnerships between companies and partnering companies with the strong science base we have built through PRTLI and Science Foundation Ireland. SFI funded researchers now work with over 300 companies.

However, the relocation of businesses within particular types of industry is a reality of modern global manufacturing for a highly developed economy such as Ireland. We successfully manage this process, through our policies on enterprise and foreign direct investment. These policies have enabled us to win many prestigious and value added investments, and have enabled us to replace lost jobs with others of equal or higher value in the economy. New jobs created in the enterprise development agencies' client companies in the last number of years are heavily concentrated in high-value added, knowledge-based companies that offer higher salaries and greater security in the face of intense international competition.

Since the onset of the global downturn, Agencies and groups associated with my Department such as Forfás, EI, IDA, the National Competitiveness Council have examined the underlying factors affecting mobile international investment and Ireland's competitive position. Specific actions to both protect jobs and create opportunities for employment in the future are set out in the reports such as that on Green Enterprise and the Innovation Taskforce. My Department is driving the implementation of prioritised recommendations in conjunction with my Government colleagues.

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