Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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597. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation the number of new jobs created in the manufacturing sector in the past 12 months; her targets in this regard over the next two years; the extent to which these jobs are likely to be spread throughout the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23287/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Action Plan for Jobs is one of the Government’s key instruments to support job creation. The Action Plan for Jobs process is working. Since the first Plan was launched in early 2012, almost 206,000 more people are at work. Over 66,000 jobs were created during 2016. Employment growth is spread across all regions and all sectors of the economy.

The goal of this Government is to support the creation of an additional 200,000 jobs by 2020 with 135,000 outside Dublin. This is a whole of Government effort and is delivered through our integrated Action Plan for Jobs.

The CSO’s Quarterly National Household Survey (QNHS) is the official source of employment data in the State. The most recent figures available are for Q4 2016. According to the CSO, the numbers employed in the industry sector increased by 11,100 during 2016, bringing total employment to 258,500 people.

The annual jobs target is agreed in the Action Plan for Jobs – the target for 2017 is to help create up to an additional 45,000 jobs across all sectors and all regions.

The Regional Action Plans for Jobs aim to have an additional 10% to 15% at work in each region by 2020. The first progress reports on the implementation of the eight regional Plans, covering the period to June 2016, were published in December 2016. While progress in the implementation of the Regional Action Plans for Jobs is at an early stage, the signs are good. Employment is growing in all regions. Based on current data all regions are on target to meet or exceed the 2020 job targets set down in 2015 for each region.

There were a total of 18,773 manufacturing jobs created in 2016 among Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland and Údarás na Gaeltachta client companies. Of these, 14,535 were permanent/full-time jobs, while the remaining 4,238 jobs were of a temporary or part-time nature. The total number of manufacturing jobs among the enterprise development agencies in 2016 amounted to 210,958, of which 188,722 were permanent/full-time jobs, and the remaining 22,236 were temporary/part-time jobs.