Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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87. To ask the Minister for Finance the most successful initiatives taken by Government in the past two and a half years to regenerate growth/job creation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41766/13]

Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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The Government has put a priority on getting people back to work and the recent labour market figures are very positive in this regard. The Quarterly National Household Survey results for the second quarter of this year showed the strongest job creation since 2008. Encouragingly this growth consisted of both full and part-time employment and was broad based across the different sectors of the economy. In addition, the standardised unemployment rate reduced further in September, to 13.3 per cent, which is the lowest level since March 2010, but still unacceptably high. We must now continue to build on the progress made over the past year as there is clearly still lots to do. I would not like to single out any one particular job creation initiative introduced by the Government over the past two and a half years, as I feel all the various initiatives have worked in unison to bring about the labour market improvement.

For instance, the Action Plan for Jobs 2013 builds on the success of the Action Plan for Jobs 2012, by focusing on creating an environment conducive to job creation. It hopes to achieve this by:

- Building Competitive Advantage;

- Assisting Indigenous Business to Grow;

- Driving Entrepreneurship and Start-Up Companies;

- Supporting Employment at Community and Local Level;

- Developing and Deepening the Impact of FDI; and

- Sectoral Opportunities.

In addition to the Action Plan for Jobs, Pathways to Work 2013, published in July, is a 50-point action plan that focuses on labour market activation and builds on the success of Pathways to work 2012. This plan focuses on:

- More regular and ongoing engagement with the unemployed;

- Greater targeting of activation places and opportunities;

- Incentivising both the take-up of opportunities and employers to provide more jobs for people who are unemployed; and

- Reforming institutions to deliver better services to the unemployed.

In addition to these economy-wide initiatives, the Government has also introduced sector specific initiatives aimed at job creation, for example in the tourism and hospitality sector. The Gathering Ireland 2013, along with the Jobs Initiative of reduced VAT for the tourism and hospitality sectors, aims at “jump-starting” the tourism sector, which is employment rich and has knock-on effects for the wider economy. Recent figures show that visitor numbers from North America, Great Britain and mainland Europe are all growing, as trips to Ireland from January to August this year increased by 6.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. Employment in accommodation and food services activities is up 8 per cent on the year to the second quarter of 2013. So all of the initiatives are having a positive effect. The task now is to build on this momentum.