Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Renua Ireland)
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17. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation his assessment of job creation in Dublin in 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2017/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Today there are 605,000 people employed in Dublin representing 31 percent of the total working population in Ireland. As a dynamic urban location, Dublin offers employment across a range of sectors and activities and is poised to take advantage of a return to growth.

With a renewed focus on sustainable enterprise and job growth, based on exports, innovation and skills, more sustainable jobs are being created by enterprises in Dublin, and following a period of intensified and coordinated action by government since the launch by my Department of the Action Plan for Jobs process in early 2012, the unemployment rate in Dublin is back to just above 8 percent.

The enterprise development agencies both announced positive outcomes for 2015 – continuing an upward trend in employment growth since 2010, driven by export growth.

Enterprise Ireland supported the creation of an additional 6,040 gross full time jobs in 2015 and a net change of 3,100, or an increase of six percent, bringing total full time employment to 54,860.

Similarly, IDA Ireland supported the creation of 8,683 gross new full time jobs and a net change of 5,676, an increase of 8.7 percent bringing employment in IDA client companies to a total of 70,790 in Dublin.

Looking back over the past decade, Dublin, as with other regions, was significantly impacted by the recession, with employment falling from a peak of 640,000 in 2007 and an unemployment rate of under 4 percent to an unemployment rate of 13 percent by 2010. As much of the growth in the 2000s was related to construction, retail and consumption, it proved unsustainable over the longer term.

For Ireland (and for Dublin) as a small open economy, sustainable long term growth is dependent on continued success in international markets. Over the coming decade our enterprise policy is predicated upon growth fuelled by foreign earnings derived from exports in the first instance as distinct from being driven primarily by domestic consumption.

Enterprise 2025 sets out the potential to reach 2.180 million in employment and an overall unemployment rate of 6 percent by 2020. This is based on the premise of export led growth and the additional indirect jobs stimulated by the activities of exporting enterprises in the wider economy. Dublin will make a key contribution to realising the ambition set out in Enterprise 2025. We need to ensure that the Greater Dublin Area continues to perform strongly as a key attractor of FDI and that it provides a dynamic environment for internationally focused Irish owned firms, entrepreneurs and start-ups.

As set out in the Action Plan for Jobs 2014, my Department has developed a series of seven action-oriented Regional Enterprise Development Strategies, with the final eighth Dublin Action Plan to be launched shortly. The Dublin Action Plan will consider Dublin, as Ireland’s capital, both in the national context and also in terms of how it is positioned in an international context, and perceived from an external perspective.

We will continue to work with other agencies and Departments to maximise Dublin’s potential across a range of sectors and activities, including tourism, ICT and Software, Financial Services, Life Sciences, Consumer Internet and Digital, Food & Drink, Construction and Retail.

My Department has also recently set out the Government’s strategy for research and development, science and technology – Innovation 2020. The strategy sets out the roadmap for continuing progress towards our goal of making Ireland a global innovation leader. Dublin can contribute to the national ambition and raise its visibility internationally as a Smart City.