James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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304. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to increase employment opportunities in Counties Longford-Westmeath in the manufacturing sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32099/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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As you know, the Forfás Strategy for the Manufacturing Sector, which I commissioned and which was published last year, identified that an additional 20,000 jobs can be created in the sector by 2016. To this end, the enterprise agencies and other relevant players have been tasked with working to enhance the competitiveness of manufacturing in Ireland by working with companies and implementing the recommendations in the strategy. That sector lost 50,000 jobs in the years up to 2010 but at the end of 2013, there were a total of 215,900 people directly employed in the sector, which was an increase of 10,000 on the numbers identified at the time the Strategy was published. This sector also supports a similar number of jobs indirectly.

In order to progress the recommendations contained in the Forfás Strategy, I established a Manufacturing Development Forum, comprising industry practitioners. One of the key results from the work of the Forum is a National Step Changeinitiative aimed at strengthening Ireland’s manufacturing base across all firms and sub sectors, redressing perceptions of the sector as a career choice and removing barriers to the competitiveness of the sector in Ireland.

The Strategy does not identify specific locations around the country for the expansion of the sector. However, a particularly attractive feature of manufacturing in Ireland is the fact that many of the present jobs are not in the main urban areas, but dispersed into regional locations, thereby providing a valuable employment focus in areas where alternative jobs are scarce. The further development of the sector will, of course, build on this key feature.

TheAction Plan for Jobs contains a series of actions to develop the manufacturing sector including a commitment to develop a framework for a Regional Enterprise Strategyto better integrate the efforts of the enterprise development agencies and other regional stakeholders in supporting enterprises. I intend that the framework will be developed on a pilot basis initially, focusing on the Midlands region, and involving the agencies under the remit of this Department – Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and the Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs). The objective is to enhance synergies between the agencies and their client companies and build on the competitive strengths of the region to maximise the potential for job creation.

The work of the enterprise agencies already focuses on developing the manufacturing sector. Enterprise Ireland runs many initiatives to help sustain existing jobs and to create new jobs in the Midlands and provides funding to the Institute of Technology in Athlone to build the research capabilities in the Region. Enterprise Ireland offers a suite of grants to companies to uplift their technological capacities, innovation and skills capabilities and export potential. The recently established LEOs are required to give priority to enterprises in the manufacturing or internationally traded services sector which, over time, can develop into strong export entities and graduate to the Enterprise Ireland portfolio.

In addition, IDA Ireland positions the Midlands as having a strong cluster in Medical Technologies and Life Sciences with big names such as Abbott, Covidien and recently Jazz Pharmaceuticals in Monksland, outside Athlone and American Medical Systems in Athlone announcing significant investments in their manufacturing facilities.

I believe that the Forfás Strategy actions and the agency activities outlined above will serve to enhance Ireland’s competitiveness and help create good quality, sustainable jobs in manufacturing.