Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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57. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he expects jobs to be created in the small and medium enterprise sector in the coming years; the way this compares with previous years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23972/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Jobs is the Government’s main policy instrument to support job creation. The Action Plan has set a target of supporting the creation of an additional 100,000 jobs in the economy by 2016 by improving the operating environment for businesses.

Over 99% of all businesses in Ireland are SMEs and it is estimated that 72% of all employees in Ireland work in SMEs. Therefore, it is reasonable to expect that a significant number of the jobs that are created through the Action Plan process will be in the SME sector.

The most recent labour market statistics published by the Central Statistics Office, show that over 63,000 jobs have been created since the Action Plan for Jobs process was introduced at the start of 2012.

A significant number of initiatives have been introduced through the annual Action Plans to support the SME sector. These include:

-the introduction of new financing models for SMEs, such as the Microfinance Loan Fund for start-ups and the Partial Credit Guarantee scheme;

- the reform of support structures for SMEs through the establishment of the new Local Enterprise Offices;

- Corporation Tax exemption to the end of this year for companies that commenced trading in 2012, 2013 or 2014;

- the introduction of the JobsPlus scheme that provides a subsidy to employers who recruit a person who has been unemployed for 12 months or more;

-the launch of a new National Step Change initiative to improve the productivity of manufacturing companies

- an increase in the cash receipts threshold for VAT, which will improve cash-flow for businesses;

-tackling the issue of late payments by transposing the EU Late Payment Directive into Irish legislation;

-the introduction this year of a new subsidised Financial Training programme for SMEs.

We will continue to seek new actions to further support SMEs through the Action Plan for Jobs process in the coming years.