Michael Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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193. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the actions he has taken to protect jobs at a production facility (details supplied) in County Cork, given that the owners have declared their intention to sell the facility. [44795/15]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Jobs which the Government initiated in 2012 has a singular focus on sustaining and growing employment in the country. The Action Plan for Jobs has been an annual process whereby changes right across Government have been developed, and then implemented with a strict timetable overseen from the Taoiseach’s Office. The focus of the actions is to achieve key targets, principally getting 100,000 people back at work and improving the business environment for growing strong enterprises. To date, over 135,800 jobs have been created, including an additional 20,000 employed in the South West region from the start of the APJ process in Q1 2012 to Q3 2015.

My Department coordinates the development of the annual Action Plans across government departments. While I do not have direct responsibility for energy policy, which rests with my colleague the Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, we have discussed this issue in the broader context of sustaining and growing jobs in the South West region. Specifically in July this year we launched the South West Regional Action Plan for Jobs, developed following a consultation process with private and public sector stakeholders in the region, with the objective of growing employment in the South West by over thirty thousand by 2020.

Today there are over 158 IDA Ireland supported foreign subsidiaries in the region employing more than 30,500 people, 717 Enterprise Ireland supported companies employing 26,600 people, together with 4,500 employed in 910 Local Enterprise Office supported firms. Employment in IDA and EI assisted firms combined has increased by 7,600 between 2012 and 2014. My Department and agencies are committed and are actively engaged in the region to retain and grow employment and this will be a central focus of our efforts in the implementation of the South West Action Plan for Jobs.

The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has responsibility for energy policy and has previously stated the Government's primary conclusion on the strategic case for oil refining is that the presence of an operational refinery on the island provides flexibility, enhancing the options available to the State in the event of an oil supply disruption, by providing an alternative source of product thus mitigating a complete reliance on product imports. In light of that conclusion, the Government had agreed that Minister White’s Department should liaise with the Irish oil industry and appropriate public bodies to determine any policy options that might facilitate the commercial future of refining in Ireland.

I understand that the Minister expects to brief the Government on the issues again, and I and my Department remain engaged on this agenda to help to ensure a secure, sustainable and competitive supply of oil for Ireland.

My intention is to publish the 2016 Action Plan in mid-January 2016. My Department is currently developing the 2016 Action Plan and is engaging bilaterally with enterprises and Government Departments to identify actions to ensure that the 2016 Plan is as ambitious and impactful as possible and keeps us on track to achieve our goal to have 2.1 million people in employment by 2018.