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Action Plan for Jobs progress reports published

20151119 APJProgressPost

The Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Minister Bruton arrive to launch the report

Progress reports on the Action Plan for Jobs 2015 have shown that 159 out of 192 actions scheduled for implementation in Q2 and Q3 2015 were delivered. The reports were published today. 

Among the measures delivered are included: 

  • Regions – published and started implementing regional jobs plans in so far 5 of the 8 regions, part of the €250million regional strategy, targeting delivery of a combined total of 127,000 extra jobs over the coming years (in the plans published so far) 
  • Regions – launched a €10million initiative through the LEOs to support more start-up businesses in every county, and launched call for expressions of interest in €40million regional enterprise fund 
  • Skills – rolled out an additional 1,061 places on core ICT courses at NFQ levels 8-9 
  • Manufacturing – measures to support more manufacturing SMEs to improve productivity, including a €10million capital investment fund and a new LEAN programme – 15 companies have benefited so far; published a guide on manufacturing supports 
  • R&D – launched the SFI Investigators Programme 2015, helping to develop a world-class research capability in STEM areas; approved additional funding for the National Institute for Bioprocess Research and Training (NIBRT) to invest in R&D in biologics drugs 
  • Start-ups – €500k fund to attract international start-ups to Ireland, Start-Up Gathering programme of events across the country 
  • Infrastructure – Government Capital Plan published, including €3billion of supports for enterprise 
  • Making work pay – Low Pay Commission Report and Government response, Collective Bargaining and REA legislation passes all stages 
  • Launched the Living Cities Initiative, aimed at rejuvenating eligible areas of Kilkenny, Galway, Waterford, Limerick, Cork and Dublin 
  • Launched Eircode, the new National Post Code system 
  • Finalised and published Enterprise 2025, 10-year strategic jobs plan 

20151119 APJProgressIBYEPost

(l-r) Peter Roberts of Roberts of Dalkey; Tánaiste Joan Burton; Niall Mimnagh of Mimnagh Ltd; Taoiseach Enda Kenny; Jennifer Wrynne whose business specialises in making hats and head pieces; Minister Richard Bruton; Blaine Doyle of GlowDX

The Government also unveiled the 24 national finalists in the competition to find Ireland's Best Young Entrepreneur, four of which attended today's report launch. 

For more information read the press release here.