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The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and Jobs Minister Richard Bruton today launched the first annual Action Plan for Jobs, the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and create jobs. The plan, which contains over 270 actions to be implemented in 2012 by all 15 Government Departments as well as 36 State agencies, will improve supports for job-creating businesses and remove barriers to employment-creation across the economy.

Action Plan for Jobs 2012 builds on work across Government to deliver reform and create economic growth, and will deliver on the third major strand of Government’s economic programme. The first was the plan to rebuild the banking system’s capacity to extend credit into the economy. The second was the plan to reduce the interest rates for the government, banks and enterprise by cutting the government deficit and downsizing the public sector. Building on the work of Ministers Noonan and Howlin to stabilise the public finances and the banking system, the third strand now is to build on this progress with the wider economic reforms needed to accelerate jobs growth and get the country working again.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton spoke to MerrionStreet.ie at the launch...

Ministers Burton and Quinn are delivering on a fundamental transformation of the training and activation services that the State provides, and further details will be unveiled shortly.

Action Plan for Jobs 2012 is the first instalment in an ambitious multi-year process which aims to deliver on the Taoiseach’s commitment to make Ireland the best small country in the world in which to do business, and increase the number of people at work in Ireland by 100,000 – from 1.8million to 1.9million – by 2016. Some of the measures to be implemented in 2012 include:

• Establish a “one-stop-shop” for small business supports, by dissolving the County and City Enterprise Boards and creating a new Micro-Enterprise and Small Business Unit in Enterprise Ireland that will work with Local Authorities to establish a new network of Local Enterprise Offices in each Local Authority
• Implement a range of new supports for small and medium-sized businesses struggling to access credit, including a €150million Development Capital Scheme aimed at addressing a funding gap for mid-sized, high-growth indigenous companies with significant prospects for jobs and export growth. A Loan Guarantee Scheme and a €100million Micro-Finance Loan Scheme will also go live shortly
• Better support indigenous companies to improve their performance , including:  establishing a new Potential Exporters Division in Enterprise Ireland to identify more and better support indigenous exporters; up to €1.2 million per year in extra funding for mentoring and management development networks;  increased mentoring of SMEs by top business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies; assisting small businesses to engage in R&D and innovation
• Help more small businesses win big contracts, both from Government and from large multinationals
• Implement the ‘Succeed in Ireland’ scheme, to provide direct incentives to members of the diaspora and others across the world to create jobs in Ireland
• Turn more good ideas into good jobs, by implementing a Research Prioritisation Plan and enacting new laws to target the State’s core €500million annual research budget towards more applied areas of research with strong potential for commercialisation and job-creation

The Plan is accompanied by a detailed list of the more than 270 actions which includes the measures required to implement each action, the Government body responsible for implementation in each case, and the deadline in 2012 by which each measure will be delivered. In order to police implementation of the measures, the Cabinet has sanctioned the establishment of a Monitoring Committee which will be chaired by the Taoiseach’s Department. Quarterly reports on implementation will be prepared and published by this monitoring group.

A series of regional meetings will be held over the coming months as part of the on-going process of consultation on job-creation. Details of these meetings will be announced shortly.

Launching Action Plan for Jobs 2012 today Taoiseach Enda Kenny said:

“The ultimate goal and top priority of Government has always been to get Ireland back to work.  It is the all-consuming obsession of every Cabinet Minister at a time when we have never seen more people unemployed.  Economic recovery has to be matched by a jobs recovery.  When the Government was first formed we were presented with a series of urgent challenges that demanded immediate attention to stabilise the economy and restore a degree of confidence in Ireland.  This was necessary for new investment and job growth.  Now we must do more.  This is why Government has put together this Action Plan for Jobs.  

The Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said:

Creating Jobs is the number one priority for the Government. As highlighted by President Clinton last week, Ireland has the opportunity to be the gateway, not just to Europe, but to billions of consumers in emerging markets. The Government is determined to take every possible step to build up our trade links and to create more and better jobs.

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton said:

“With over 300,000 job losses since a flawed economic model collapsed in 2008, and more than 315,000 people currently unemployed, job-creation is this Government’s top priority. However, there is no ‘big bang’ solution to the jobs crisis built up through years of poor policy choices. It will take a period of hard work by businesses, Government, and people across the country to rebuild the economy brick by brick, reform by reform, to get back to sustainable enterprise-led growth where more businesses can start-up, expand and create new jobs.