Welcome to this press conference to publish the Action Plan for Jobs progress reports for quarters 2 and 3 for 2015.
These events are an important part of our effort to keep up the momentum on job creation as we work towards our target of reducing unemployment down to 6% by 2020.
There was encouraging news this week when the Central Statistics Office published a new unemployment rate of 8.9% with the numbers unemployed falling to under 200,000 for the first time since 2008.
Over 1,000 new jobs a week were added to the economy in 2015 and we need to keep this momentum up so that we can keep the recovery going.
I expect that with our continued focus on domestic and regional recovery that at least another 50,000 new jobs will be added to the economy in 2016 and that we will see more Irish people returning home than leaving.
The domestic and regional economy was prioritised this year for new initiatives to spread the benefits of recovery around the country.
It is why we are this year rolling out Regional Action Plans, to ensure that all parts of the country benefit from recovery.
We have launched 4 to date, in the West, Midlands, South West, and South East Regions, and 4 more will follow shortly.
This morning we are here to launch two further Quarterly Progress Reports under the Action Plan for Jobs.
Two further steps in the day-to-day process which, brick-by-brick, is helping to support our jobs-rich recovery.
Many new initiatives launched in the previous six months have helped to support new jobs in our domestic enterprise sectors.
For example:
- We have introduced a Springboard work placement portal to connect graduates and employers with job opportunities and launched Springboard+ providing for 9,000 free part time and full time courses around the country ;
- The Apprenticeship Council has developed and is about to launch 25 new courses designed for a modern economy ;
- We launched the Rural Economic Development Zones Pilot Scheme to part-fund up to 18 pilot projects designed to foster and promote rural economic development around the country on a regional basis ;
- We are rolling out the Government’s new JobPath service, which provides a tailor-made case worker service to the long-term unemployed ;
- We completed the detailed design and launch of a new Knowledge Development Box to incentivise the development of innovative products in Ireland ;
- The launch of ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ to 270 international buyers to very positive feedback and held brand workshops with over 400 industry stakeholders ;
- We continued the roll out of the British – Irish Visa Scheme which saw an increase of 67% in demand in August compared to last year ;
We will continue to press forward in the fourth quarter of 2015, ensuring, as ever, full follow-up on any actions that have yet to be delivered.
One of the best innovations arising from the Action Plan for Jobs and in recognition that we need to support young Irish entrepreneurship is the development of the Best Young Entrepreneur competition organised by the Local Enterprise Offices.
This year is the second full year of the competition with the finals next month.
After this press conference I’m going to meet with 24 finalists to hear about their ambitious plans for the future and what we can do to help them.
A few of them are with us this morning:
· Blaine Doyle from Kilkenny who is developing a new business to identify a better way of diagnosing what are termed ‘neglected tropical diseases’;
· Niall Mimnagh from Longford is going to revolutionise the tyre recycling industry ;
· Jennifer Wrynne from Leitrim is already starting to conquer the fashion world; and
· Peter Roberts from Dalkey is providing an outlet for the best locally produced Irish foods.
When you see their names in the business pages in the years to come remember that you saw them here first!
These are just some examples of how we are going to push on to deliver full employment, so that anyone who wants a job will be able to get one.
The Tánaiste will now say a few words.