Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 82: To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the consideration he has given to developing a job retention scheme for viable business to keep workers in employment rather than join the live register. [35947/11]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Employment Subsidy Scheme (Temporary) was introduced in December 2008 to help vulnerable but viable businesses retain jobs during the most difficult period of the economic downturn. The scheme was approved by the European Commission under a Temporary Framework for State Aid measures. This Temporary Framework was limited to a two-year period and it expired at the end of 2010. There are no plans for a further scheme of this nature at present.

However, job creation and retention is a central objective of the Government. The Government's role is to ensure that we have the right policies in place to support and grow our enterprise base in order to facilitate both job creation and job retention. The Jobs Initiative announced last May focused our resources on measures that offered the greatest potential for expansion and employment creation in the domestic economy. Initiatives such as the reduction in the lower rate of VAT and the halving of employer's PRSI on earnings up to €356 per week have helped to retain people in employment and create new jobs, particularly in the hospitality industry.

Building on the Jobs Initiative, I am currently preparing a Jobs Strategy for the Government which will set out a series of clear, actionable measures to support the creation and retention of jobs in to the future. The Strategy will focus on areas such as:

- improving competitiveness and intensifying competition in sheltered sectors;

- assisting indigenous business to grow;

- supporting indigenous start ups;

- attracting inward entrepreneurial start ups;

- developing and deepening the impact of Foreign Direct Investment;

- exploiting opportunities in new and emerging sectors; and

- supporting employment initiatives within the community.

Some of the actions in the Jobs Strategy will be delivered in short-term and will have an immediate impact, while others will be delivered in a longer timeframe. The objective is to publish the Strategy early in the New Year.