Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 244: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the number of jobs her Department claimed will be created as part of published policy papers, reports and documents commissioned by or compiled by her Department between 2010 and 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20907/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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The FAS/ESRI Occupational Forecast Report forecasts employment by occupation out to 2015. The forecast implies that the economic recovery, which is expected to begin towards the end of this year, will generate 250,000 additional jobs between now and 2015. It does not offer any view as to how many jobs will be created by the Government's job creation initiatives. The economic forecasts underlying the projections have been produced in times of great uncertainty and are underpinned by a number of assumptions which concern the speed of the global economic recovery, competitiveness, the restoration of the financial sector, fiscal balance, nominal wage rates and migratory flows.

Education plays an important role in contributing to human capital development to support new jobs in the 'smart economy' as underlined by recent Government strategies - Building Ireland's Smart Economy, Innovation Taskforce report. The Innovation Taskforce Report for which the Department of an Taoiseach is the lead Department notes that the education system "is pivotal in making innovation happen" and contains an estimate that between 117,000 and 215,000 new jobs could be created by 2020 if its full range of recommendations are implemented successfully.