Industry & Business

The  Government has launched Enterprise 2025 Renewed and the Action Plan for Jobs 2018. The Action Plan for Jobs 2018 is the 7^th cross-Government annual plan to support job creation, while Enterprise 2025 Renewed is a review of Ireland’s longer term enterprise strategy.

Speaking at the launch, Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD stressed the importance of joined-up thinking when it comes to policy making. She said that these strategies complement and reinforce one another – Enterprise 2025 Renewed sets out our medium-term strategy and direction of travel, while the Action Plan for Jobs sets out the suite of short-term actions to be taken across Government and its agencies during 2018.

Minister Humphreys continued: “It is the Government’s ambition to ensure that another 100,000 jobs are created by the end of 2020. There are over 2.2 million people at work, the unemployment rate stands at 6 percent and indigenous exports have reached over €21.6 billion. Economic growth projections for the current year are strong and my determination is that no region will have an unemployment rate above 1 percentage point of the national average by 2020.”

“Our enterprise policies are delivering but Brexit, international tax developments, US policy developments and technological advances present direct events that will have an impact on Ireland’s prospects. Both Enterprise 2025 Renewed and the Action Plan for Jobs 2018 illustrate the need to deepen resilience in Ireland’s enterprise base, particularly in light of Brexit. My Department wants to see businesses competing, innovating and trading in order to make them more resilient in the face of Brexit and other global challenges,” Minister Humphreys added.

To date, the Action Plan for Jobs has supported the creation of nearly 313,000 jobs. The Government aims to support the creation of 50,000 more jobs in 2018.

Commenting on the launch of the reports, Minister of State for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Digital Single Market and Data Protection Pat Breen TD said many of these jobs would be created by small and medium sized companies (SMEs). “SMEs are the backbone of our economy in every region across Ireland and this Government is committed to supporting their continued competitiveness. Improving productivity through investment in infrastructure, training and innovation will ensure that our SMEs will provide high quality jobs that are essential to the wellbeing of our communities.”

He continued “The Action Plan for Jobs 2018 sets out actions that will support our enterprises and our workforce to adapt and thrive in a technology-rich world.  As set out in Enterprise 2025 Renewed, we will drive a coordinated approach across Government to deliver on an ambitious vision and strategy for Ireland’s digital economy over the medium term. I will also continue to work with our EU partners to advance the digital single market and to influence outcomes relating to data-flows post Brexit.”

The input, support and partnership with external stakeholders are critical to the success of the Action Plan for Jobs process. This includes employer representative groups, trade unions, the community and voluntary pillar and a broad-based selection of Enterprise Ireland and IDA clients. The Industry Partners Forum, comprised of business leaders, has contributed significantly to the Action Plan for Jobs 2018 and has helped to identify the priorities for the year ahead.

Enterprise 2025 Renewed

Enterprise 2025 was first drafted in 2015 to set out longer-term ambition for enterprise growth and job creation over the decade to 2025. Enterprise 2025 Renewed reinforces the core premise of Ireland’s enterprise model to deliver higher standards of living for all based on export-led growth and higher productivity, placing a greater emphasis on:

• Supporting the development of Irish owned enterprises so that they are a driver of growth over the period to 2025;
• Placing a spotlight on innovation, skills and on leveraging Ireland’s strengths in technologies;
• A focus on regional development through investment in placemaking;
• Stimulating greater levels of clustering; and on
• Developing Ireland’s international relationships.

View Enterprise 2025 Renewed here.

Action Plan for Jobs 2018

The Action Plan for Jobs was first launched in 2012 and has supported the creation of nearly 313,000 jobs since its inception. Some of the actions in 2018’s plan include:

• the launch of the second tranche of Enterprise Ireland’s Regional Enterprise Development Fund with total funding of €60 million;
• the refresh of The Regional Action Plans for Jobs;
• Enterprise Ireland working closely with enterprises and the Regional Fora to identify their skills needs and to deliver what companies and their employees need in today’s challenging environment;
• Enterprise Ireland intensifying its supports to firms, working across all sectors and with a strong regional dimension;
• the launch by the Departments of Business, Enterprise and Innovation (DBEI) and Agriculture, Food and the Marine of a €300 million Brexit Loan Scheme which will be delivered by the SBCI;
• the launch by DBEI of the Business Finance Advisory Hub for SMEs;
• a focus on increasing the number of people able to participate in employment;
• the introduction of a new Youth Employment Support Scheme;
• the support of 6,000 apprenticeship registrations;
• the introduction of 10 new apprenticeship programmes; and almost 4,000 traineeships.

View Action Plan for Jobs 2018 here.