Written answers

Thursday, 18 September 2014

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Job Losses

Photo of Brendan GriffinBrendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his views on job losses in the pub sector, if he will implement measures to help this sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34964/14]

Photo of Richard BrutonRichard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Recent CSO QNHS figures show that there was an annual increase in employment of 1.7% or 31,600 in the year to Q2 2014, with over 1.9 million people currently in employment, compared to 1.847 million at the start of the Action Plan for Jobs process. Employment increased in ten of the fourteen economic sectors over the previous year, with the largest rates of increase were recorded in the Administrative and support service activities (+10.7% or 6,200) and the Accommodation and food service activities (+6.2% or 8,000).

The Government is focussed on ensuring that jobs are created and sustained across the whole economy. The Action Plan for Jobs process has, since its inception in 2012, seen many actions being implemented which are aimed at supporting businesses to create and sustain jobs. Many of those actions benefit the pub and related sectors. For example, catering provided in pubs benefits from the reduced VAT rate of 9%, which was introduced in the Jobs Initiative in 2011 and retained in Budget 2014. The JobsPlus initiative was launched in the middle of 2013 for all enterprises, which provides a subsidy to employers who recruit a person who has been on the Live Register for 12 months or more. The Gathering 2013 was extremely successful with CSO figures for the year showing that the target of attracting 325,000 additional overseas visitors in 2013 was exceeded, as there were 6.986 million overseas visits to Ireland in 2013, an increase of 468,000 (7.2%) on the 2012 total. Tourism figures have continued to show strong growth in the first half of 2014, with tourist numbers, numbers of bednights per visit and overall spend all showing double-digit percentage growth compared to the first half of 2013.

However, we must continue, through the Action Plan for Jobs process, to maximise the job creation potential of all regions and all sectors. The Government has put a specific emphasis on the domestic economy and on improving cost competitiveness in the 2014 Action Plan for Jobs and in our Statement of Priorities to 2016.

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