Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

47. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the most commonly identified cause of job losses in the manufacturing and services sectors here in each of the past five years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44741/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

48. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he continues to monitor the cost base in the services and manufacturing sectors here in each of the past five years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44742/14]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

49. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which technology and innovation have featured in job creation in the indigenous manufacturing and services sectors and the foreign direct investment sector; the extent of the job creation involved in each of the past four years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44743/14]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Questions Nos. 47 to 49, inclusive, together.

As a small open economy, Ireland is impacted by global economic cycles and shifts in competitiveness worldwide. In the case of manufacturing, lower labour costs in Asia have, for many years had a significant impact on the production of lower value goods with high labour element, but Government policy has pursued the development of higher value areas. In fact since the advent of the recession, Ireland’s competitiveness has improved, as shown by our rise in International rankings, as various costs have been reduced. While some of the specific data sought by the Deputy in his questions is not available in the precise format requested, overall trends are very positive. The Annual Forfás Employment Survey shows a rise in employment in Agency supported manufacturing companies of over 3,300 since 2011. The latest data for Agency –supported Internationally Trading Services companies show a rise of over 14,000 in the same period. Other Services sectors in the domestic economy have shown significant growth in employment in recent years.

Manufacturing encompasses a broad range of sub-segments that present considerable opportunity for growth: Developing manufacturing has been adopted as a Disruptive Reform in the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, with a range of measures designed to support industry growth including encouraging entrepreneurship, further improving our skills base, improving access to finance by SMEs and supporting a range of indigenous and foreign-owned manufacturing companies to transform their businesses as part of a National Step Change Initiative. The Manufacturing Development Forum is helping to address the key issues arising from the Manufacturing Strategy recommendations.

Services encompasses a diverse range of activities - there is a complex mix of high value added internationally traded activities such as software, financial services and customer support services as well as more labour intensive (primarily) locally trading sectors such as retail, logistics, professional services and a range of private and public sector delivered healthcare, education and transport services.

The Government have made great strides in addressing various issues impacting on costs for business over recent years and we will continue to carry out analysis on the various factors impacting on the cost base of all sectors, including manufacturing and services. Maintaining and improving our competitiveness is an ongoing priority.

Innovation is a key characteristic of growing companies in both the Manufacturing and Services sectors. Enterprise Ireland, IDA and Science Foundation Ireland, provide a range of innovation and technology development programmes that deliver financial, technical and experiential support. By way of illustration, in 2013 SFI had links to 65 per cent of the jobs announced by IDA in fields covered by SFI’s legal remit.

The importance of innovation and technology to Ireland’s on-going and future economic recovery is well recognised by the Government as being crucial to growth in both our indigenous and FDI sectors. Evidence, from both the EU and internationally, shows that the Government’s strategy of accelerating the economic and societal return on our Science Technology and Innovation investment is paying off. While is it not possible to fully disaggregate the contribution of Innovation and Technology to job creation, all the evidence is that it is very significant, as Ireland moves up the value chain and exploits our competitive position in knowledge based activity. We have actively pursued the availability of EU funding for Research and Innovation and, in particular, we will ensure that we will access significant funding from both new EU Horizon 2020 Programme,to further enhance Irish business capability.

Measures designed to support industry growth are set out in the Action Plan for Jobs 2014and include encouraging entrepreneurship and supporting start‐up activity, further improving our skills base, assisting our businesses to grow, improved access to finance by SMEs and developing and deepening opportunities from global investment. Work is currently underway to draft our 2015 Action Plan for Jobs.