Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 28: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to reduce the level of emigration which has reached 50,000 persons a year; and if he will quantify the level of emigration reduction his plan will achieve for each of the next three years. [28879/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Both inward and outward migration have been a feature of Ireland's labour force over the last three decades and they will continue to be a feature of a modern globalised economy where mobile workers follow job opportunities. Recent CSO data shows that 76,400 people were estimated to have emigrated in the year ended April 2011 while 42,300 entered Ireland in the same period giving a net outward migration of 34,000 approx in the period. Some 36,200 (47.4%) of those who left Ireland in the 12 months ending April 2011 were non-Irish nationals reflecting the diversity of our population and labour force in recent years.

Extract from CSO Population and Migration Estimates (,000)

A closer analysis of the immigrant figures shows that 17,100 Irish national returned to Ireland in the year to April 2011- an increase of almost 4,000 compared to the previous year. Returning Irish nationals accounted for 40% of all immigrants in the twelve months to April 2011.

There is clearly a difference between voluntary migration, where people choose to work abroad, and a situation where people feel that they have to look elsewhere for work until such time as there are jobs available in the Irish economy to match their skills. In order to address this, the Government has set economic recovery and job creation as its core objectives. It is only by creating the right environment for businesses to expand that we will see new jobs coming on stream.

Building on the Jobs Initiative of last May, I have begun the process of preparing a comprehensive Jobs Strategy which will provide an action plan to support the creation of employment in the economy. It is expected that the Strategy will be published in January. In the meantime, the enterprise development agencies, Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, and the County and City Enterprise Boards are continuing to drive and promote enterprise development, and consequently employment creation, in our economy.

The training, work experience and education measures that are being implemented by the Departments of Social Protection and Education and Skills are designed to help those who are unemployed gain valuable work experience, maintain close links with the labour market, improve their skills and education levels and ultimately improve their career prospects.

Many Irish people will continue to choose to emigrate for personal and career reasons and therefore it is not possible to estimate the level of emigration over the coming years. However, the Global Irish Economic Forum held in Dublin Castle last weekend showed that many Irish emigrants have been successful in the field of business and entertainment and they still have a close attachment to Ireland. The Forum showed that we can – and should - tap into our diaspora to help us to achieve economic recovery and create new jobs. In this context, the Government will be driving forward a number of initiatives and suggestions which emerged from the Global Irish Economic Forum last weekend.