Niall Collins (Limerick, Fianna Fail)
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317. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his plans to deal with the job creation needs in Tallaght in Dublin 24; when future announcements will be made in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33134/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Jobs is having a positive impact on employment in the economy, since the first Plan was launched in early 2012. As of Q2 2015, there were an additional 126,000 at work in the economy since the launch of the first Action Plan for Jobs, which achieved and exceeded the Government’s target of 100,000 extra at work by 2016. The services sector made the largest contribution to the achievement of the Government’s target of 100,000 more at work. Following a number of years of decline in employment from 2007, I am pleased to report that the manufacturing sector has also recorded increases in job numbers since 2011.

Significant progress has been made by Government in supporting job creation and in reducing unemployment rates in all regions of the country, including Dublin. By Q2 2015 the number at work in Dublin had risen to 591,800, an additional 88,000 from Q1 2012. As of Q2 2015 the unemployment rate in Dublin was down to 8.1% from 13.1% in early 2012. The number of unemployed in Dublin has reduced from 75,800 in early 2012 to 51,800 in Q2 2015 according to the CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey.

While progress has been made, this Government is not complacent about the challenge of achieving sustainable full employment over the medium term, in all regions including Dublin. As part of the 2015 Action Plan for Jobs we launched the process for developing Action Plans for every region and the work on the preparation of the Dublin Action Plan for Jobs is currently commencing. Two areas of particular focus will be how we can generate future entrepreneurship and investment in manufacturing and services sectors of the economy.

Arising from the strategy for the manufacturing sector ‘Making it in Ireland: Manufacturing 2020’, prepared by Forfás and the report of the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs Skills Report on the skills needs for the sector, both of which I launched in 2013, there are now a range of initiatives being progressed by my Department and relevant Agencies to drive the Government’s jobs targets. In recent weeks I launched a new guide for manufacturing enterprises on the supports available through the state bodies and agencies to support new and existing employment.

Manufacturing was a Disruptive Reform in the Action Plan for Jobs 2014 and is a key focus in the 2015 Action Plan for Jobs and also in the regional Action Plans for Jobs, 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 indigenous companies 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 Strategy recommendations. These initiatives are important to growing and sustaining the competitiveness of existing enterprises, to sustaining employment and to attracting new investment.

For both manufacturing and services sectors, skills and talent development and attraction are critically important. We have a good skills base on which to grow our manufacturing and services sectors and as the economy recovers there will be further opportunities for the unemployed. My Department and its agencies has a Protocol in place with the Department of Social Protection to ensure that where new job openings are available, that there is an efficient and timely matching between those unemployed and skills required by enterprise and that appropriate training or development is available. The Apprenticeship Council has also recently announced a number of new apprenticeships to meet the current and future skills needs of manufacturing and services sectors. These new apprenticeships will also provide a range of opportunities for the long terms and youth unemployed.