Written answers

Thursday, 10 November 2016

Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation

Economic Growth

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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332. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her plans to immediately review Enterprise 2025 with respect to forecasts outlined on, for example, employment, unemployment and exports, considering the document was published in November 2015 in advance of the June Brexit referendum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34326/16]

Photo of Mary Mitchell O'ConnorMary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Enterprise 2025 set out the Government's ambitions for sustainable enterprise, employment and export growth. The growth potential was set in the context of the macro-economic forecasts contained in the Short-term Economic and Fiscal Outlook for the period 2014-2021 prepared by the Department of Finance. The Programme for Partnership Government affirms the ambition for the creation of 200,000 more jobs over the period 2016 to 2020 and my focus is on ensuring we deliver on that potential.

As a small open economy, Ireland needs to have an agile policy system in place so that it can respond effectively to change. The development of Enterprise 2025 was informed by ongoing global uncertainties – including economic, geo-political and technological uncertainties.

The core premise of Enterprise 2025 is that our policies will build resilience in our enterprise base – through increased investment in innovation, enhanced productivity and competitiveness, and by diversifying our export markets beyond the UK, and to broaden our geographic source markets for FDI.

This basic premise remains valid in the altered landscape post Brexit. The UK vote does mean, however, that we need to redouble our efforts to work with our Irish owned enterprises to manage through the uncertainty, and with foreign owned MNEs to capture opportunities for FDI.

In this context, I have secured the largest ever capital budget at €555 million for my Department - a 10 percent year on year increase. I have secured sanction for 50 additional staff across the agencies that will be deployed both at home and overseas to meet the challenges presented by Brexit. While accepting that new challenges exist, we remain ambitious and I have agreed targets with IDA and Enterprise Ireland to bring employment in each of their portfolios to over 200,000 next year.

I have established a Brexit Coordination Group within the Department where my senior officials and agency CEOs meet regularly to work through what needs to be done ‘on-the-ground’ to anticipate and respond to what is as yet an unknown outcome in terms of economic impact. We have increased our trade mission activity and engagement with potential investors in FDI. Enterprise Ireland has undertaken a review of its client base and is focused on supporting companies in the areas of market diversification, planning their next steps, competitiveness and innovation.

In addition in Budget 2017, the Minister for Finance introduced a number of measures to help get Ireland Brexit ready including: the retention of the 9 per cent VAT rate to help the tourism and hospitality sector to maintain competitiveness; the extension of the Foreign Earnings Deduction and of SARP until 2020; an increase to the earned income tax credit for the self-employed to encourage entrepreneurship; as well as the establishment of a rainy day fund. The Government is confident that appropriate fiscal policies are now in place. This will help us to adjust to the economic effects of the UK's negotiated withdrawal from the EU.

To reiterate, the UK vote has served to accelerate rather than redefine our enterprise policies. Just as the whole of Government responded to the severe unemployment challenge we faced post the global economic downturn, we will respond to the challenge that Brexit present. We are taking action – we remain ambitious.

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