Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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41. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation her views on a special assignee relief programme that is focused on SMEs in order to attract highly skilled talent to work in sectors that have skills and labour shortages; and if she made representations or submissions to the Minister for Finance on this subject in the context of budget 2018. [38304/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Government introduced the Special Assignee Relief Programme (SARP) in Finance Act 2012. The aim of the relief is to reduce the cost to employers of assigning skilled individuals in their companies from abroad to take up positions in their Irish based operations, thereby facilitating the creation of jobs and the development and expansion of business in Ireland.

Measures such as this complement the range of initiatives to support export-led growth as part the Action Plan for Jobs, which has seen 230,000 extra people in work since its launch in 2012.

The budgetary process is currently under way and I am liaising with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, and his department with regards to meeting the needs of businesses of all sizes in order to best address the challenges they face and to assist them achieve their potential.