Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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322. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent if any to which he has identified positives or negatives affecting job creation or retention based on the experience of the past two years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19002/13]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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In the three years before this Government took office, 250,000 private sector jobs were lost. It was clear what was needed was to transform our economy from one that became over dependent on property, construction and debt, to one focused on enterprise, innovation and exports. The Action Plan for Jobs is a key instrument in this objective and is designed to deliver measures right across Government to protect existing jobs and support the creation of new ones. A key feature of the Action Plan process is that each of the actions to be delivered is broken down into Quarterly milestones and progress against these targets is rigorously monitored and published on a quarterly basis.

One year into the Action Plan for Jobsprocess, we can see evidence that the strategy and architecture are working. Over 90% of the 270 individual actions committed to last year were completed on time. They included many important reforms designed to enhance competitiveness, improve access to finance, support enterprise and develop employment in sectors of opportunity for Ireland. In many cases, the full impact of these reforms will take time to materialise. However, some significant objectives have already been realised, including:

- the establishment of a Microfinance Fund for small businesses;

- the introduction of a Partial Credit Guarantee scheme;

- new supports for first time exporters;

- the launch of a new Women-In-Business programme;

- the simplification and extension of the Employer's PRSI Exemption scheme;

- the launch of a National Broadband Plan;

- the piloting of a Health Innovation Hub; and

- work being undertaken to develop sectors such as Cloud Computing, Digital Games, Manufacturing, the Green Economy and other areas.

More significantly, last year, 12,000 jobs were created in the private sector, particularly in export-oriented sectors that are targeted by the Action Plan for Jobs. Exports from Irish-based companies also reached record levels last year.

The Government will continue to build on this progress in 2013. This year's Action Plan for Jobs includes 333 actions for delivery across all Government Departments and 46 Agencies or Offices. The Plan also includes seven landmark projects, or Disruptive Reforms, that the Government has identified as having potential to impact significantly on job creation. As a small open economy, we are influenced heavily by developments in international markets. However, the merit of the Action Plan for Jobs is that every year, each Department is required to focus on changes that can be brought about to make a practical contribution to the target of supporting the creation of 100,000 extra jobs in the economy by 2016.