A GOVERNMENT plan designed to promote the creation of 100,000 jobs over the next four years will be published today. The Action Plan for Jobs 2012, prepared by Minister for Employment Richard Bruton, will involve 15 Government departments and 30 State agencies in a co-ordinated effort to implement a detailed list of measures to promote job creation.
A monitoring committee involving officials from the Department of the Taoiseach, Department of Jobs, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and Forfás will be established to police the implementation of more than 250 pro-jobs measures contained in the plan.
The Cabinet has approved the initiative as well as the secondment of a small number of staff from Forfás to the Department of the Taoiseach to provide expertise.
The plan has a list of measures to be implemented in 2012 along with the Government body responsible for its delivery and deadline.
The committee will be responsible for ensuring that departments, State agencies and other bodies deliver on the targets. It will be chaired by the Department of the Taoiseach and will provide reports every quarter to the Cabinet subcommittee on Economic Recovery and Jobs.
The plan will focus on four key areas: supporting indigenous businesses; encouraging foreign direct investment and international start-ups; competitiveness; and targeting a number of key sectors such as ICT and financial services where the Government has identified potential for employment growth.
One of the sectors targeted for jobs growth is life sciences. It is an industry projected to grow at 9 per cent globally to 2013 and employs 50,000 in Ireland between indigenous and multinational companies.
Nine out of the top 10 global pharmaceutical corporations have a presence in Ireland, as do 17 out of the top 25 global medical devices corporations. These firms are spread across the country with clusters in Dublin, Cork, the midlands and the west/northwest.
The plan suggests that despite the success of the life sciences industry in Ireland, co-operation between industry and the Irish health system to encourage the development of new products, services and processes has been limited.
