Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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195. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the degree to which Irish people overseas can be encouraged to return in order to meet staff vacancies throughout industry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5973/24]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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My Department is working closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs and its Embassy network, as well as other Departments, to implement the Government’s Diaspora Strategy, Global Ireland – Ireland’s Diaspora Strategy 2020-2025, which was launched in late 2020. The effective coordination of the implementation of this strategy across Government is carried out through the Interdepartmental Committee on the Irish Abroad, chaired by the Minister for the Diaspora, and Officials from my Department participate in this Committee. The Department of Foreign Affairs leads on the implementation of this strategy.

Global Ireland sets out a number of actions to strengthen our connections with diaspora communities and to harness the contribution from the diaspora to support our economy, including through promoting and facilitating the return of Irish emigrants.

The strategy recognises how returning emigrants bring with them skills and knowledge gained abroad that can help develop both the national and local economies. To support this, the Government also recognises the need to minimise the challenges faced by individuals and families returning to Ireland. The strategy commits to a number of actions to support the return of members of the diaspora.

These include monitoring barriers to return and adopting measures to remove them where possible; the negotiation of reciprocal agreements with countries that are home to significant Irish diaspora communities, such as double taxation and social security agreements; improvement of the provision of information on returning to Ireland and providing information for Irish citizens living overseas, including the dissemination of information on skills needs; and the expansion of mutual recognition and the portability of academic or professional qualifications earned overseas.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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196. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the extent to which employment has fluctuated in this jurisdiction over the past four years to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5974/24]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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According to the most recent employment figures from the CSO’s Labour Force Survey, total employment in Ireland stood at 2.66 million people in the third quarter of 2023. This represents an increase of 14%, or an additional 329,000 jobs, compared to the same period in 2019, when total employment stood at 2.33 million. The employment rate in Ireland was 74% in the third quarter of 2023, up from 70% in 2019. There are now more people at work in Ireland than ever before.

The increase in the rate of female employment since 2019 has been particularly striking, increasing from 64% in Q3 2019 to 70% by Q3, 2023- a record high- while the employment rate for men has also increased from 75% to 78% during this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a disruptive impact, with employment reaching a low of 1.77 million in the second quarter of 2020 according to the CSO’s COVID-19 adjusted estimates. The post-pandemic recovery in employment has nevertheless been very strong and highlights the resilience of the Ireland’s labour market.

Government policies aimed at creating an attractive environment for both indigenous enterprise and foreign direct investment and enhancing the availability of talent to employers have resulted in record-breaking levels of job creation being achieved in the context of ongoing international economic and geopolitical turbulence, while initiatives such as Pathways to Work are helping to create a more inclusive labour market.

If this momentum is to be maintained, it will be essential that more people-particularly those in cohorts traditionally more distant from the labour market- are given the support they need to enter employment, ensuring in turn that Irish enterprise continues to have access to a pool of high-quality, adaptable and flexible talent.

To meet the demand for skills and to continue increasing participation in employment, there is close collaboration across Government, in particular between the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, its agencies and my own Department, as well as between Government, industry, and the education and training system more broadly, in order to continue building a highly skilled and inclusive workforce.