Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 50: To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation his proposals to facilitate job creation and job retention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10120/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The role of my Department is to ensure that the appropriate policies are in place to support Ireland's enterprise base, thereby facilitating job creation and retention. It is only by creating the right environment for businesses to grow that we will see new jobs coming on stream. In this context, the forthcoming Jobs Initiative will outline a range of measures which will be taken across all Government Departments - including my own - to improve the cost of doing business in Ireland, increase competitiveness, grow our exports and restore confidence in the economy, both internationally and domestically.

The presentation of the Jobs Initiative will be just the first step in the Government's plans to bring about economic recovery and support job creation and retention. Following the publication of the Jobs Initiative, I will continue to work, along with the enterprise agencies and my colleagues in Government, to develop a medium term Jobs Programme. We will develop policy on a number of fronts, such as improving access to finance for enterprises, getting our cost base right, helping businesses to be more innovative and to win new markets, and developing strategies to capitalise on Ireland's potential in key sectors such as lifesciences, cloud computing, the digital gaming industry, the green economy and the international education sector.

As outlined in the Programme for Government, the Government will also implement a number of sectoral initiatives in areas that will create employment in the domestic economy. These include initiatives in the retail and SME sectors, ICT, agri-food, tourism, financial services, social enterprise, Green economy and education. We will also introduce a new National Development Plan that reflects Ireland's changed economic circumstances, covering the seven-year period 2012-2019.