Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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92. To ask the Taoiseach the national and regional job targets and unemployment rate projections under the programme for Government in each of the years 2016 to 2020 and enterprise 2025, by year; the annual progress on actual figures and rates at the end of 2016 and to date in 2017 relating to these targets; the monitoring and reporting mechanisms in place; his job targets up to 2020, by region, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50932/17]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The goal under the 2016 Programme for a Partnership Government was to deliver an extra 200,000 jobs by 2020, of which 135,000 will be outside of Dublin.

With a strong focus on job creation and retention, the annual Action Plan for Jobs provides a framework for the collaboration between Government Departments and Agencies to achieve this objective.

Since Q2 2016, employment has increased by 2.3% with an extra 48,000 in employment. The number of unemployed fell by 45,100 (a 2.4% reduction) leading to a reduction of the unemployment rate from 8.6% in Q2 2016 to 6% in October 2017. For the first time since Q3 2010 the number of long term unemployed accounts for less than 50% of total unemployment.

Between June 2015 and January 2016, my Department published eight Regional Action Plans for Jobs, aimed at raising employment levels in the regions and facilitating them to achieve their economic potential. Each plan contains a series of actions with timelines for delivery between 2015-2017, through improved collaboration between enterprise agencies and other stakeholders supporting enterprise development in the regions.

The Action Plan for Jobs and Regional Action Plans for Jobs are monitored by the Department of the Taoiseach on a quarterly basis, with the Regional Action Plans for Jobs overseen by a Regional Implementation Committee.

The Regional Action Plans for Jobs are supported by a Regional Enterprise Fund of up to €60 million, which was launched in May 2017 to drive enterprise development and job creation in the regions. This funding has been provided by DBEI, through Enterprise Ireland, to 2020. DBEI has granted €150 million over five years to the IDA regional property programme, which invests in property solutions outside Dublin.

The annual Action Plan for Jobs combined with the Regional Action Plan for Jobs are delivering significant results, as evidenced through the rise in employment since 2016 (please see the supplementary material attached).

An objective within Enterprise 2025 is to ensure that unemployment across the regions is within one percent of the national average by end 2020. Although considerable progress is being made overall, two regions - the Midlands and the South East - have yet to achieve our ambition. These two regions were the greatest hit during the recession. There are differences in the enterprise structure, occupational profiles and productivity levels of the enterprise base across regions which can explain the differences in the recovery to some extent. The Action Plan for Jobs, and Regional Action plans are key mechanisms for implementation and monitoring of progress for Enterprise 2025.

A comprehensive Review of Enterprise 2025 is being finalised and the analysis points to solid progress toward achieving a suite of metrics, including employment, export growth, start-up activity, scaling of Irish owned enterprises etc.