Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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106. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which this jurisdiction remains an attractive and competitive location for inward and indigenous investment likely to lead to job creation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42239/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise 2025, the Government’s long-term enterprise policy was launched earlier this month. It is an ambitious strategy, with the objective of delivering growth over the next decade that is sustainable, led by strong export performance, builds on our sectoral strengths, and that is underpinned by innovation, productivity, cost effectiveness and competitiveness. We aim to build resilience into our economy so that we do not suffer again as we have done in the past number of years. We have 135,800 more people at work than when we launched our first Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. Our export performance has been exceptional, with exports by Enterprise Ireland clients at a record of €18.6bn last year. Employment in EI and IDA supported firms has grown by over 40,000 since 2012.

Enterprise 2025 is a strategy that aims to build an economy that will not just achieve full employment but will sustain it in the long term. It has the commitment across government to take focused actions to deliver growth that is sustainable, led by strong export performance and underpinned by innovation, productivity and competitiveness.

Our objective is to support the creation of an additional 140,000 direct and indirect jobs in Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland agency-assisted enterprises. We are targeting an increase in the number of startups by 25 percent per annum and to grow exports of Irish-owned firms at a rate of 6-8 percent per annum, achieving a 50 percent increase by 2020. We are also targeting winning an additional 1,080 inward investment projects over the period to 2020.

We cannot take the achievement of these targets for granted and we will have to stretch ourselves further to maintain the momentum of growth. Sustaining improvements in our competitiveness will essential and we have are targeting a rank amongst the top 3 small companies in the World Bank Doing Business Index.

Ireland is the first country world-wide to introduce an OECD compliant Knowledge Development Box (KDB) offering certainty to global and Irish owned enterprises.

The OECD nexus approach sets out the principles and guidelines under which income arising from IP assets can qualify for a lower rate of tax under a KDB initiative. Ireland’s KDB rate is 6.25 percent (half of the corporation tax rate of 12.5 percent) and is internationally competitive. It is important to note that there have been no changes to the headline corporation tax rate of 12.5 percent on trading income and the continued commitment to this rate has been reiterated in Budget 2016. The certainty, predictability and clear signal that this sends to enterprise – including both Irish owned and foreign owned entities establishing and doing business from here - remains essential.

The Knowledge Box, as announced by the Minister for Finance in Budget 2016, will support and encourage both foreign and Irish owned enterprise to undertake research and development here, to protect the intellectual property that arises and to benefit from the measure.

Increasing indigenous investment will necessitate a continuing focus on establishing a vibrant and stimulating ecosystem for entrepreneurship to deliver an increase the number of start-ups by 25 percent per annum. We will also focus on developing clusters of competitive advantage in high growth and emerging areas so as to ensure that individual enterprises, and the economy more generally, gain from impactful inter-firm relationships throughout the country, through stimulating the establishment of clusters of scale and international visibility in areas of strength. Ireland is, and will continue to be, the best place to succeed in business, delivering sustainable employment and higher standards of living for all.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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107. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which the manufacturing and services sectors are each likely to expand over the next five years, thereby generating more job opportunities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42240/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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A key objective of the Action Plan for Jobs process, which this Government commenced in 2012, was to rebuild our economy based on enterprise and entrepreneurship, talent, innovation and exports and provide a solid foundation for future growth. We have 135,800 more people at work than when we launched our first Action Plan for Jobs in 2012, with a strong contribution from both manufacturing and services sectors across the economy to employment growth. Our export performance of manufactured goods and value-added services has been exceptional, with exports by Enterprise Ireland clients at a record of €18.6bn last year. Employment in EI and IDA supported firms has grown by over 40,000 since 2012. Enterprise 2025, the Government’s long-term enterprise policy was launched earlier this month. It is an ambitious strategy, with the objective of delivering growth over the next decade that is sustainable, led by strong export performance, builds on our sectoral strengths, and that is underpinned by innovation, productivity, cost effectiveness and competitiveness. The strategy sets out the key actions needed across government to build resilience into our economy so that we do not suffer again as we have done in the past number of years and has the commitment across government. As a small open economy, export-led growth will remain core to our policy focus, and we will continuously monitor our employment growth patterns in terms of an export/non-export ‘balance’ to avoid the mistakes of the past.

Enterprise 2025 sets out a clear statement of ambition. This includes having 2.180 million people at work by 2020, with the unemployment rate down to 6 percent. We are aiming to have unemployment in all regions not more than one percent above the national average. We are targeting the creation of an additional 140,000 direct and indirect jobs in agency assisted enterprises. Central to this jobs growth will be increasing the number of start-ups by 25 percent per annum, growing exports of Irish-owned firms at a rate of 6-8 percent per annum, achieving a 50 percent increase by 2020 and winning an additional 1,080 inward investment projects.

It is important to note that Enterprise 2025 is a whole of enterprise strategy, aimed at delivering opportunities across all regions and across all sectors, including both manufacturing and services activities. We aim to strengthen resilience in the enterprise mix; recognising the valuable and different contributions that different sectors make to economic growth - through exports, value-add, direct economic expenditures and/or employment. This whole of enterprise approach will strengthen our resilience in today’s global environment where the pace of change has accelerated and where competition for investment and mobile talent has intensified.

We know that sectors themselves are constantly evolving and that both manufacturing and services activities will continue to play a part in realising our ambition for sustainable full employment across Ireland. Enterprise 2025 envisages the creation of a range of employment and career opportunities across a broad spectrum of skills and across manufacturing and services activities. Our policies will continue to facilitate the creation of quality employment, taking into account the multi-dimensional aspects that define quality including: ensuring opportunities for advancement that involves workplace learning and development; ensuring that people are educated and trained to meet the needs of industry; recognising the opportunities presented by entrepreneurship as an alternative career path; and ensuring a system that facilitates flexibility without exploitation.

Enterprise 2025 is informing the more granular actions that will be delivered during 2016 through the Action Plan for Jobs 2016 process that is currently being developed.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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108. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his projections for job creation, by region, over the next five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42241/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Since the start of the Action Plan for Jobs process in 2012, employment has increased by over 135,800 across the economy as a whole and has exceeded the initial target set by the Government for 2016. All regions have experienced jobs growth, but the rate of progress in some regions is less than in others. That is why the Government is placing an increased emphasis on supporting job creation in the regions.The objective of the Regional Action Plans is to strengthen and develop regional collaboration by encouraging local authorities, regional bodies, higher education institutions, the private sector and communities to come forward with innovative ideas to boost job creation in their area.The aim is to capitalise on regional strengths, assets and areas of competitive advantage in order to support businesses in each region to start-up, succeed, expand, and export.

The primary objective of these plans is to have a further 10 to 15 per cent at work in each region by 2020 and to ensure the unemployment rate of each region is within one per cent of the State average.

Key targets in the Regional Action Plans published to date are to increase the number of entrepreneurs/start-ups in each region by a minimum of 25%, improve the 5-year survival rate by 25% and improve scaling performance of companies by 25%. Earlier this year IDA Ireland launched its 5 year strategy for the period 2015 to 2019 which aims to create 80,000 new jobs in the economy over the period and increase investment into each region by between 30% and 40%.

The targets for additional jobs to be created in each region in the period to 2020 are set out hereunder

The Regional Action Plans will cover the three-year period 2015-2017 to allow for the process to take hold and develop, and to capture a more medium-term ambition for the regions. However, the Regional Action Plans will be flexible and dynamic to allow additional actions and ideas to be added as they emerge over the period of the Plan.

The Regional Action Plans For Jobs have been developed in a genuine bottom up way with the committed involvement of not just the region’s public bodies but also many of its enterprises, business organisations and public representatives. The ambition of this Plan will only be realised through the collaborative effort of all these stakeholders to create a common purpose around entrepreneurship and job creation.The plans will be underpinned by robust reporting arrangements, with the publication of twice yearly progress reports.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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109. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation arising from his reply to previous parliamentary questions, if he is satisfied with the availability of appropriate skills to meet the demands of the workplace; if any shortages therein are likely to impede job creation efforts in either the manufacturing or service sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42242/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise 2025, the Government’s long-term enterprise policy launched earlier this month is an ambitious strategy to achieve sustainable full employment. We want to deliver economic growth over the next decade that is sustainable, led by strong export performance, building on our sectoral strengths, and that is underpinned by talent, innovation, productivity and competitiveness. We aim to build resilience into our economy so that we are better placed to respond to national and international shocks in the future. Talent and skills are at the heart of Enterprise 2025, and our strategy for the future builds on the lessons of the last four years. Our success in supporting enterprises in creating jobs since we started the Action Plan for Jobs process in 2012 illustrates the impact we can have when we align our education, training and activation policies with the skill requirements of the enterprise sector. We have 135,800 more people at work than when we launched our first Action Plan for Jobs in 2012. Our export performance has been exceptional, with exports by Enterprise Ireland clients at a record of €18.6bn last year. Employment in EI and IDA supported firms has grown by over 40,000 since 2012.

Companies across the globe consider talent as the key differentiator in the 21st Century. Ireland benefits from its strong reputation for talent internationally, not least because of our can-do attitude that has led to successful entrepreneurship, growing Irish owned multinational enterprises and continues attractiveness for FDI. We know that the war for talent is global. In this context, we need to also attract those individuals who are mobile to choose to take up employment opportunities here in Ireland, including attracting back the extraordinary reservoir and skills base of our emigrants who left during the early part of the recession.

The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) plays a key role in advising the Government on the current and future skills needs of the economy. Recent EGFSN reports have anticipated future job opportunities arising from both expansion and replacement demand for a range of occupational roles, including in ICT, data analytics, manufacturing, medical devices, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, international sales and marketing, project management, freight transport, distribution and logistics, and in the hospitality sector.

The Government is taking action to respond to emerging areas of high demand. For example, the ICT Action Plan which provides an integrated response within the education system to increasing the domestic supply of high level ICT skills. The aim of the Plan is to support the flow of people into ICT education, training and careers. Overall implementation of the Plan is driven by a High Level Steering Group which my Department co-chairs with the Department of Education and Skills.

The skills needs in other areas of the economy are being addressed through the Further and Higher education system, through Springboard and Momentum training courses which help to upskill or re-skill unemployed people, and through the enterprise-led Training Networks Programme run by Skillnets. Earlier this year, the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, TD, announced the development of 25 new Apprenticeships which cover a wide range of sectors such as manufacturing and engineering, tourism and sport, financial services, information technology, transport distribution and logistics, and business administration and management.

As noted above co-operation between employers and the education and training system has proven to be crucial in developing effective responses to skills needs, and the Department of Education and Skills is establishing new Regional Skills Fora to strengthen co-operation between enterprise and the Further and Higher education and training systems into the future.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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110. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the extent to which he expects innovation to play a significant role in job creation over the next five years, with particular reference to the manufacturing and the service sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42243/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The importance of innovation to Ireland is recognised by the Government as being crucial to economic growth and plays a key role in job creation. Investment in science, technology and innovation is an essential component of supporting an innovative and enterprising economy. It assists in creating and maintaining high-value jobs and attracts, develops and nurtures business, scientists and talented people, ensuring Ireland is connected and respected internationally. Statistics show that Research, Development and Innovation performing firms are gaining an increasing share of sales, export sales and are accounting for increasing shares of employment. My Department and its agencies are focused on the development and support of internationally trading manufacturing and services firms in Ireland, and have a clear and steady focus on the potential and opportunities that exist and can be created by prioritising innovation and technology as a key driver of success. Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Science Foundation Ireland provide a spectrum of innovation and science/ technology development programmes that deliver financial, technical and experiential support to help companies become more innovative, encourage and support competitiveness, and help them grow their sales and exports in order to create a climate in which sustainable employment will grow and expand.

Supporting effective research that produces outputs of maximum impact for Ireland’s economy and society is crucial. In this context, a successor to the national Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation 2006-2013, which will outline our plan to ensure that we build on our significant achievements, will be launched in the coming weeks.