Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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72. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which support is being offered to facilitate job creation in the indigenous sector over the past eight years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38584/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise Ireland is the agency under my aegis to help companies throughout Ireland start and scale, innovate and remain competitive on international markets, now and in the future. Its vision is that Irish enterprise will be a powerhouse of economic growth and job creation. The manufacturing and internationally traded services companies that Enterprise Ireland works with are a vital source of employment in every county in Ireland and are spread across a wide range of sectors.

In January of this year EI reported that its client companies created 19,705 new jobs in 2014. These companies continued to see year-on-year jobs growth in 2014 and they created 8,476 net new jobs - the highest net gain in the history of the agency. This employment growth demonstrates the direct impact that increasing exports has on jobs in Ireland. Enterprise Ireland supported companies now directly provide employment for 180,072 people, comprising 156,202 full-time and 23,870 part-time workers.

In terms of their overall contribution to the economy, Enterprise Ireland clients account for over €22 billion in expenditure in the Irish economy and support more than 300,000 jobs (direct and indirect) in Ireland – this is equivalent to approximately 16% of the total workforce.

In order to help its clients achieve this, Enterprise Ireland uses a developmental approach across all aspects of clients’ needs, including business development, sales and marketing capabilities, innovation and R&D activity, technology development, continuous competitiveness and lean improvements, leadership and management development, and access to finance.

The outlook for new job creation in 2015 is positive and Enterprise Ireland’s focus will remain on ensuring that its clients have access to all of the necessary supports required to build on this momentum.

Table A overleaf contains figures for jobs created by EI over the period 2007-2014 and the amounts of various funding allocated by the agency for the same period.

The 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) are now the First-Stop-Shop service through which all information on State supports for small and micro-businesses can be accessed. The LEOs are the local hub for enterprise support and deliver not just the range of supports that were available from the former CEBs, but also provide:

- An enhanced signposting service to other local and national supports, backed by protocols relating to information exchange, mutual contacts and client referrals with other key agencies (Revenue, Social Protection, and the Credit Review Office) including Local Authority business services; and

- Direct referral to the Microfinance Irelandand Loan Guarantee Schemes.

The LEOs can also provide funding for projects that meet certain criteria, in certain circumstances, and other non-financial ‘soft’ supports such as mentoring and training. Over the period 2008-2015, the LEOs / former CEBs received an Exchequer allocation of €226.470m, of which €129.245m was for Measure 1 (financial) and Measure 2 (non-financial) Capital supports.

At the end of 2014, total direct employment among the 6,058 LEO client companies stood at 31,326, of which 22,555 were full-time and 8,771 were part-time jobs.

The goal of this Government has been to replace all of the jobs lost during the economic crisis and deliver sustainable full employment by the end of 2018. This whole of Government effort has been integrated into the Action Plan for Jobs process which aims to strengthen the enterprise base, support entrepreneurship, improve competitiveness and support regional development. Since the launch of the first plan in Q1 2012, 126,000 more people are at work - exceeding the original target of an additional 100,000 jobs by 2016. A key aim is to develop the full potential of our enterprise sector, building upon its assets and areas of competitive advantage.

We are currently preparing our Action Plan for Jobs for 2016, to continue to drive the necessary changes needed to drive growth. Additionally, the Regional Action Plan for Jobs approach that we are currently rolling out is fundamentally based on leveraging the strengths inherent in each region. Last year we launched the National Entrepreneurship Policy for Ireland. The key target contained in the plan is to double the jobs impact of startups in Ireland over the next five years. We are also currently drafting a new Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation in order for our enterprise base to thrive.

We will shortly launch Enterprise 2025, which sets out a strategic framework for a competitive, export-orientated economy that can support full employment over the next decade.

All of these strategic pieces knit together to form a cohesive policy framework at the local, national and higher levels to ensure that we are doing everything in our power to encourage and support job creation and the continued economic growth that our country needs.

Table A - Enterprise Ireland

Source:Annual Employment Survey figures for each year - 2007-2014.

Enterprise Ireland Allocation of Funds - funding for Enterprise Development

Source: Enterprise Ireland Allocation of Funds - Funding for Enterprise Development Table in each year's Annual Report.