Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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Question 345: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation the way he plans to create 30,000 jobs through his Department's agencies; the public bodies under his remit that will take responsibility for their delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47130/10]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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The role of my Department is to ensure that we have the right policies in place to support and grow our enterprise base in order to facilitate job creation. The State Development agencies under the aegis of my Department – Enterprise Ireland and the IDA, are continuing to drive and promote enterprise development, and consequently employment creation in our economy.

Budget 2011 saw €508 million in capital spending alone dedicated to driving Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth through increased exports, more foreign direct investments and the smart economy by significantly investing in research and development.

This multi-billion capital investment in growth and jobs is routed through my Department and its agencies, IDA Ireland, Enterprise Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland and the County and City Enterprise Boards. This investment and other measures outlined in the National Receovery Plan will support the acheivement of the targets set out in the Government's Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy strategy, including the target to create 300,000 new direct and indirect jobs in the enterprise and tourism sectors by 2015.

It will deliver nearly 30,000 new jobs in 2011, including both direct and indirect jobs, just from the IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland client base alone.

Enterprise Ireland will support the achievement of these job creation targets through a number of key interventions such as:

· support for start-ups, R&D and Innovation, and securing exports.

· Supporting the establishment and growth of High Potential Start-Ups.

· supporting companies to target new opportunities in overseas markets.

· continuing to be focused on supporting company investments

· continuing to invest in R&D both in terms of in-company investments, and by supporting the commercialisation of Ireland's research.

A vibrant and growing Foreign Direct Investment sector remains central to an economic recovery based on export led growth and the development of the Smart Economy. Earlier this year, IDA launched its strategy "Horizon 2020", which set out the Agency's targets for the period 2010 to 2014. To date in 2010, there have been 75 announcements in relation to job creation by IDA client companies with the potential to create over 5,000 jobs.

To support these targets, the IDA has established a new High Growth Markets Team to achieve 20% of Greenfield investments into Ireland by 2014 originating from these markets, with a further team targeting new High Growth companies. Additionally, IDA has developed a suite of support mechanisms to assist companies, which will form the basis of the agency's ongoing interaction with its client companies at both local and corporate level.