Govt Plans For 20,000 New Jobs By 2015

The Government today published its plans for 20,000 additional jobs in the manufacturing sector by 2016.

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, and the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairi Quinn TD, published strategies prepared as part of the Action Plan for Jobs.

Last year Minister Bruton tasked a group led by industry experts with coming up with a plan to deliver on the Government’s target of 20,000 additional jobs in the sector. The strategies launched today, prepared by Forfás and the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, are aimed at delivering on that ambition.

Key actions are proposed across a range of areas, including; access to new funding, management training and support, costs reduction and technology adoption.

Among the specific measures proposed are:

• A new Start-up Fund run by Enterprise Ireland specifically targeting support for new manufacturing start-ups;

• Enterprise Ireland to introduce a new Capability Fund to support capital investment by manufacturing companies;

• EI and IDA to target additional financial supports for R&D investment specifically targeted at engineering firms;

• A new National Step Change Initiative available to all EI and IDA client companies that will systematically support manufacturing companies to

• expand their client base through staff training and Peer Learning, improve their adoption of new technologies and embrace R&D, accelerate collaboration between companies in similar sectors to generate greater efficiencies in areas like global sourcing;

• Proposals to maintain or reduce costs to manufacturing companies across areas like energy, waste, regulation, tax etc.

• Better targeting of training at skills shortages in the manufacturing sector through the implementation of the Manufacturing Skills study.

The plan will be implemented and monitored as part of the Action Plan for Jobs process, driven by the Department of the Taoiseach.

The Ministers made the announcement today at Prodieco, an Irish manufacturing company established in 1962, which in recent years adapted to changing trends and now exclusively supplies packaging to the pharmaceutical industry, employing 130 people.

Minister Bruton said: "Despite a substantial decline over the past decade, manufacturing is a crucial sector employing over 200,000 people directly and a similar number indirectly. We in Government believe that the sector has substantial capacity for jobs growth, and that is why we decided two years ago to examine new ways of targeting support at manufacturing.

"The industry-led forum which we established to drive change in this sector has made real progress, and the strategy laid out today by Forfás shows that our Action Plan for Jobs target of 20,000 additional jobs in the sector by 2016 is achievable with the right supports from Government.

"Here in Prodieco we can see at first hand what is possible in this sector for companies who show willingness to change and pursue new opportunities for growth. I am determined to ensure that we implement change, support more companies to change and pursue new growth markets, and create the jobs we need."

(CD/H)