George Lawlor (Wexford, Labour)
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32. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment to expand on the Programme for Government commitment to create 300,000 new jobs by 2030 and to outline the strategic investment supports proposed. [6711/25]

Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Ireland’s labour market has shown remarkable resilience given the challenges faced in recent years, including Brexit, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and global inflationary pressures. The Government continues to work on those elements within our control and our labour market performance has been nothing short of exceptional

Ireland has a strong reputation as a stable country to do business in, both for indigenous enterprise and in terms of foreign direct investment. The Government is focused on maintaining this strong economic stability.

According to the latest employment figures from the CSO’s Labour Force Survey (November 2024), total employment stood at 2.79 million in the third quarter of 2024. This represents 96,800 additional jobs since the same period in 2023. There are now more people employed in Ireland than ever before. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.0% in January and the Central Bank of Ireland expect an average unemployment rate of 4.5% in the near term.

The success of our labour market reflects the continuing success of Ireland’s enterprise policy in sustaining and expanding employment. To ensure that this momentum is maintained, my Department published the White Paper on Enterprise in December 2022, which sets out Government`s enterprise policy for the period through to 2030. The White Paper on Enterprise details how we will deliver on our ambition of a vibrant, resilient, regionally balanced and sustainable economy made up of a diversified mix of leading global companies, internationally competitive Irish enterprises and thriving local businesses. In particular, it seeks to ensure the continued creation of rewarding jobs and livelihoods across Ireland.

In order to achieve this ambition, Government has set out seven enterprise policy objectives in the White Paper; integrating decarbonisation and net zero commitments, placing digital transformation at the heart of enterprise policy, advancing Ireland’s FDI and trade value proposition, strengthening the Irish-owned exporting sector, enabling locally trading sectors to thrive, stepping up enterprise innovation, and building on Ireland`s existing strengths and opportunities, through a clustering approach.

The commitments set out in the White Paper on Enterprise are being implemented through a series of consecutive two-year Implementation Plans, the first of which was published in May 2023, and covers the period through to the end of 2024. The third update report, which covers the period H1 2024, shows that significant action continues in advancing the enterprise policy vision set out in the White Paper across the seven priority policy areas. The report furthermore outlines positive progress towards the achievement of the majority of the 15 target metrics as set out in the White Paper. The fourth update report, covering the period H2 2024, is currently under development and is expected to be published in the coming weeks.

I am aware that it is essential that Irish enterprise has access to a pool of high quality, adaptable and flexible talent to ensure that the objectives outlined in the White Paper on Enterprise are realised. In order to meet this demand, my Department works closely with stakeholders across Government in order to build and retain a highly skilled workforce to serve the needs of the economy.

Ireland’s skills development policy is supported by a responsive National Skills Architecture, which aims to ensure that education and training provision is optimally aligned with identified skills needs within the enterprise base. This architecture is overseen by the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which provides the Secretariat for the National Skills Council. My Department, as well its agencies IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, are members of the Council.

We also continue to work closely with the Department of Social Protection in implementing Pathways to Work, and with it the labour market activation of the unemployed, groups underrepresented in the workforce, and workers transitioning to more viable roles or sectors as our economy evolves.

The Government is also delivering a suite of measures aimed at improving job quality and labour market inclusivity, including making progress towards implementing the National Living Wage, and the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 which establishes the right of all workers to request remote working and the right of parents and carers to request other forms of flexible working. The latter has played a role in achieving Ireland’s increased levels of female labour force participation, a really positive development.

It is also important to reflect on the new IDA Ireland Strategy which will direct the focus of IDA Ireland over the coming 5-year period as it seeks to enhance the resilience, productivity, and innovation of Ireland’s FDI base. Central to this, is an emphasis on partnering with the existing (1,800) clients, employing over 300,000 people across the country, to identify opportunities to safeguard and strengthen long-term investment in Ireland. The key objectives of this ambitious strategy are to strengthen long-term investment (i.e. retaining the client-base); drive sustainable change; scale cutting-edge innovation and maximise regional opportunities. In pursuit of these objectives, the strategy sets out an ambition to win 1,000 investments which will:

• Secure €7bn in new RD&I investment;
• Deliver 550 regional investments;
• Reduce IDA client carbon emissions by 35%;
• Create 75,000 jobs (15,000 each year over the 5-year lifecycle of the Strategy); and
• Upskill 40,000 people