Govt promises 100,000 new jobs by 2016

Dr. Kenneth Noisewater · 13-02-2012 04:01PM #1

From RTE.ie;

The Government has launched an ambitious jobs plan which aims to create 100,000 new positions by 2016 and a further 100,000 by 2020.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Tánaiste Emaon Gilmore and Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton launched the plan in Dublin this afternoon.
The full programme includes a total of 270 measures to be delivered this year in 15 Government Departments and 36 State agencies.
The process will be policed by a monitoring committee of three Departments with think-tank Forfás.
In an effort to address the difficulties small companies face accessing credit, the State is to guarantee 75% of loans to small and medium businesses.
That measure is expected to be operational by the second quarter of this year.
The plan will include a Development Capital Scheme for companies with prospects of jobs and export growth. It will be backed by €50m State investment which is expected to leverage up to €100m.
A new Micro Finance Fund will supply investment in small companies seeking less than €25,000. The fund will be €10m every year for ten years. The European Investment Bank will supply some of the equity.
The plan proposes a finders' fee of "up to €4,000" for people of Irish extraction abroad who succeed in bringing major job projects to Ireland.
There will also be a facility for the diaspora to contribute to investment in new enterprises which is modelled on a similar scheme in Israel.
The plan includes steps to encourage more mobile international entrepreneurs to start businesses in Ireland through a €10m State fund for investment in start ups, improvement in immigration arrangements, a targeted marketing campaign and greater use of IDA network.
A Strategic Investment Fund will match private sector investment with money from the National Pension Reserve Fund. The NPRF will commit €250m and a further €1bn will be sought from institutional investors in Ireland and overseas for infrastructural investment.
A corporation tax exemption will be extended for start up companies until 2014.
Lobby group ISME has said in the past that many firms, due to their size, did not qualify for support from enterprise boards, local authorities or Enterprise Ireland.

Today's plan seeks to address that shortcoming by establishing a "one-stop shop" for firms.

City and country enterprise boards will be dissolved and a new unit will be created in Enterprise Ireland that will work with local authorities in aiding firms.

The Government will establish a health innovation hub to encourage transforming new technologies in health and life sciences into commercial enterprises.
In terms of technolnolgy investment, a team will be established to drive the growth of digital gaming, which Ministers hope will double its number of jobs in two years.
The Government also states its intention to support an "enterprise-led International Digital Services Centre" with the aim of centralising digital companies in Ireland.
There are also plans to create a Cloud Computing Strategy for the Public Service and establish of a research centre in cloud computing.

What do people make of this? Its ambitious to say the least, hard to see an extra 200,000 jobs in this country in the next 8 years.

who what when · 13-02-2012 04:07PM

If the government actually created half the number of jobs its 'pledged to', then we'd need to bring over the other half of Poland to fill them!

RedXIV · 13-02-2012 04:08PM

I see alot of terms there refering to technology which is kind of ironic considering how little they thought of the sector with Sean Sherlock's ambitions.

13-02-2012 04:09PM

The whole bank stuff wasn't bad enough, they want to guarantee everyone's loans as well?

southsiderosie · 13-02-2012 04:19PM

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I'm sorry, but that is a ridiculous list. The more I read about the government's 'growth' policies, the more sympathetic I am to libertarian arguments against the state. The choices for industries that the government is interested in reads like a laundry list of 'what's hot' from an in-flight magazine - I don't believe for one second that the relevant ministers could even explain half of what they are proposing. Plus, as a previous poster noted, with the SOPA-style legislation, how does Ireland expect to jump into the market for online gaming and cloud computing?

Run away from the SOPA-style legislation, reform bankruptcy law so people can get out from under their debt in a manageable way, and invite microlending programs in from other countries that have a decent track record, but the government needs to stay out of the 'job creation' business because it frankly doesn't know what the hell it is doing.

MysticalRain · 13-02-2012 04:22PM

RedXIV wrote: »

I see alot of terms there refering to technology which is kind of ironic considering how little they thought of the sector with Sean Sherlock's ambitions.

And the fact that TD's apparently have a problem answering emails these days.

If there are any jobs created in this country during the next few years, it will be inspite of the government, not because of it.

Dannyboy83 · 13-02-2012 04:34PM

Seems to be only 1 section on commercial rents in the document:

Why try to build a nice car if you're not going to add a fuel tank?

p1akuw47h5r3it · 13-02-2012 04:56PM

I don't understand why the Government feels it needs to create jobs. Jobs should be created by the citizens of the country, with the government simply implementing a tax system to encourage business creation.

Nijmegen · 13-02-2012 05:19PM

Aren't these 100,000 new jobs already baked into the mid-term fiscal targets, if not the original national recovery plan? They're part of the GDP growth plan already.

spank_inferno · 13-02-2012 05:42PM

It seems a smoke & mirrors effort right out of the Fianna Fail playbook.

A re-hash of already declared ideas and initiatives, sprinkled with as many buzzwords as a a 10 minute glance at a business magazine can provide.

mikom · 13-02-2012 05:45PM

RedXIV wrote: »

I see alot of terms there refering to technology which is kind of ironic considering how little they thought of the sector with Sean Sherlock's ambitions.

Know-ledge economy.

TWO IN EVERY FIVE Garda stations in Ireland do not have email access, it has emerged.
Figures published by justice minister Alan Shatter show that of the 703 Garda stations currently in operation, 421 of them are ‘networked locations’ leaving 282 stations without access to a unique email address.
http://www.thejournal.ie/two-out-of-five-garda-stations-dont-have-email-access-353291-Feb2012/

Cuddlesworth · 13-02-2012 06:32PM

The sad part is we are a great location for "cloud" computing, hosting large scale datacentres here is a breeze. Temperate climate, reasonably reliable power and a good workforce to pull from. But that ship sailed a long time ago, the infrastructure was let fall by the wayside.

FreudianSlippers · 13-02-2012 07:00PM

bluewolf wrote: »

The whole bank stuff wasn't bad enough, they want to guarantee everyone's loans as well?

It's like Oprah now... YOU GET A GUARANTEE, YOU GET A GUARANTEE, YOU GET A GUARANTEE!

Count Dooku · 13-02-2012 07:52PM

deccurley wrote: »

The full programme includes a total of 270 measures to be delivered this year in 15 Government Departments and 36 State agencies.

What do people make of this? Its ambitious to say the least, hard to see an extra 200,000 jobs in this country in the next 8 years.

In order to preserve 15 Government Departments and 36 State agencies initial 5 points plan have been increased by 54 times

Einhard · 13-02-2012 07:53PM

I think people are being a tad unfair here. The government haven't promised to create any new jobs; indeed, at the launch, Kenny was categoric in declaring that the government couldn't do any such thing. Instead, they want to make it easier for viable companies to create said jobs. I think most people would agree that that's something all governments should aspirse to.

As for the specific proposals, some of them are quite good. People have been complaining about a lack of access to credit for years now. This plan goes some way towards addressing that problem. There's also a €100 million fund to help firms with viable growth plans, and another €100 million towards providing loands under €25000 to smaller firms with equally viable prospects.

These three proposals alone target issues which have have been highlighted here on boards, and across the country, as holding back economic growth. And yet, when apparently reasonable plans are draw up to address said issues, the response is instant ridicule. It appears that credit of the financial kind isn't the only form in short supply in Ireland these days.

mikom · 13-02-2012 07:59PM

Einhard wrote: »

And yet, when apparently reasonable plans are draw up to address said issues, the response is instant ridicule.

Respect must be earned.

Count Dooku wrote: »

In order to preserve 15 Government Departments and 36 State agencies initial 5 points plan have been increased by 54 times

That's inflation for ya.

Einhard · 13-02-2012 08:02PM

mikom wrote: »

Respect must be earned.

Exactly. Let's see what happens. The opposite of respect isn't automatic ridicule.

lmimmfn · 13-02-2012 08:24PM

what a joke, lol, of course we'll attract so much cloud computing and online gaming companies when our broadband is so fantastic behind Mongolia lmfao

Ireland’s broadband performance slumps
In light of Ireland’s continued decline in the world rankings we in IrelandOffline are calling on the Minister of Communications to put away the continual departmental excuse book and take immediate action to address this dismal performance measurement.

This performance plunge puts us below such Internet luminaries as Moldova,Vietnam, Mongolia since 2010(1) ,Papua New Guinea, Ghana(2) and Kyrgyzstan.

Eamonn Wallace, Chairman of IrelandOffline said : “These are countries in transition or developing economies, unlike Ireland which aspires to be in the top tier of countries for Internet access. Patently this will not be the case as our performance is falling quarter by quarter. The Department of Excuses (DECNR) does not seem unduly worried about this disastrous showing, preferring to ‘spin’ and cling to outdated ideologies. Most of the advances in recent reports have been down to work done by UPC in Cities and Large Towns, however the majority of the country suffers from dismal download speeds and this needs to be addressed urgently if we are to have any hope of matching the EU 2020 Vision ‘knowledge economy’ goals”.

Wallace continued: “The digital divide is widening as as shown by the speeds provided by UPC in mostly urban areas compared to the speeds offered by eircom in the rest of the country. The average eircom speed is now only 4.67 Mbps which demonstrates the pitiful and ongoing lack of investment by eircom in the network.”

http://irelandoffline.org/2011/12/ireland%E2%80%99s-broadband-performance-slumps/

I live in a town, i dont even get 4.67Mbps lol.

As was said, its just a list of whats apparently hot in ireland at the moment and a load of crap of setting up more PS jobs as teams/agencies to drive the growth or oversee things.

Fit them better to spend 1 billion on improving broadband infrastructure( at least for towns )
- would employ people
- would get the infrastructure back in state ownership( im comparing to eircon here )
- would provide the infrastructure for IT companies around Ireland and not just in Dublin and allow small IT companies to grow, especially in terms of online gaming services and cloud computing.
- would close the huge gap in terms of broadband speed with the rest of europe.
- would allow people to work from home more, saving companies having so many office spaces and saving on transport/carbon footprint.

But no, theyre not doing that, they'll spend even more money on crappy 3G/midband services ensuring that our boradband will be slower than that of nomads in the Sahara in a few years time.

They havnt even legislated to make it mandatory to duct new estates/houses for either fibre or UPC cable, not that there will be many houses but at least sort it from now on.

*EDIT* Oh yeah and Irish SOPA is really going to help nuture IT here, like doing a degree in English but only 1 book is available lol.

southsiderosie · 13-02-2012 08:28PM

Einhard wrote: »

I think people are being a tad unfair here. The government haven't promised to create any new jobs; indeed, at the launch, Kenny was categoric in declaring that the government couldn't do any such thing. Instead, they want to make it easier for viable companies to create said jobs. I think most people would agree that that's something all governments should aspirse to.

As for the specific proposals, some of them are quite good. People have been complaining about a lack of access to credit for years now. This plan goes some way towards addressing that problem. There's also a €100 million fund to help firms with viable growth plans, and another €100 million towards providing loands under €25000 to smaller firms with equally viable prospects.

These three proposals alone target issues which have have been highlighted here on boards, and across the country, as holding back economic growth. And yet, when apparently reasonable plans are draw up to address said issues, the response is instant ridicule. It appears that credit of the financial kind isn't the only form in short supply in Ireland these days.

Why is the answer to making it easier for the private sector to create jobs setting up more public bureaucratic infrastructure? I think that is where people are incredulous: these people are supposed to fund and shape industries that they don't really understand? The next logical step then is bringing in overpriced private consultants to tell them how to set up said enterprises? I think we've all seen this song and dance before.

13-02-2012 09:01PM

southsiderosie wrote: »

Why is the answer to making it easier for the private sector to create jobs setting up more public bureaucratic infrastructure? I think that is where people are incredulous: these people are supposed to fund and shape industries that they don't really understand? The next logical step then is bringing in overpriced private consultants to tell them how to set up said enterprises? I think we've all seen this song and dance before.

So you really believe that there is not one bit of expertise involved in the entire Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation that would know anything about creating an environment for certain (any) industries to flourish?

Fair enough. Why?

Icepick · 13-02-2012 09:49PM

Isn't one of the main problems of our unemployed low (relevant) education and limited skill set?
It seems that without the bubble money, Ireland would have had 10+% unemployment during the last decade anyway.
So one of the main things is to make these people realize that the high wages for low-skilled labour are not gonna return and they need to compete for (about)minimum wages. Of course, cutting welfare would help this a lot.

Knowledge economy is important but that's mostly gonna offer jobs for returning emigrants and people who had to move to Dublin to get a job in their field.

Cuddlesworth · 13-02-2012 10:22PM

lmimmfn wrote: »

what a joke, lol, of course we'll attract so much cloud computing and online gaming companies when our broadband is so fantastic behind Mongolia lmfao

Your home broadband has nothing to do with our ability to compete internationally for data centres.

InReality · 13-02-2012 10:35PM

I think at least they are trying things and some of the ideas are worth a shot.
They are a lot better than what I would have expected.

One plan is to try and link up the Health science industry we have here , which is quite large , with the health sector.
Its exactly the sort of thing govt should be doing. It might not result in many new jobs but its sensible to try it.

lmimmfn · 13-02-2012 11:13PM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Your home broadband has nothing to do with our ability to compete internationally for data centres.

datacentres? the article includes data centres and "a team will be established to drive the growth of digital gaming"

So, yes it does, because it signifies the availability of high speed broadband for startup IT companies outside of Dublin.

Unless all innovation occurs or should only occur in Dublin?

WalterMitty · 13-02-2012 11:54PM

lmimmfn wrote: »

datacentres? the article includes data centres and "a team will be established to drive the growth of digital gaming"

So, yes it does, because it signifies the availability of high speed broadband for startup IT companies outside of Dublin.

Unless all innovation occurs or should only occur in Dublin?

Not all parts of country are gonna have high speed access likeexists in Dublin etc. Fibre optic network access would be neccesary for most IT companies ?

WalterMitty · 13-02-2012 11:59PM

this jobs plan is just more tinkering at edges. Too little too late full of hope that something will come along to save the government from making the real tough decisions that need to be made. Job growth here in IT will suck in a lot of best talent from around Europe and not put much of a dent in unemployment numbers.

AlmightyCushion · 14-02-2012 12:08AM

WalterMitty wrote: »

Job growth here in IT will suck in a lot of best talent from around Europe and not put much of a dent in unemployment numbers.

Creating employment, even if it is through importing employees rather than getting people off the dole, is still good for the country. More tax revenue, more people renting houses and buying products etc.

WalterMitty · 14-02-2012 12:18AM

AlmightyCushion wrote: »

Creating employment, even if it is through importing employees rather than getting people off the dole, is still good for the country. More tax revenue, more people renting houses and buying products etc.

Oh i know and agree but it is more than matched by numbers emmigrating who havent the required skills

K-9 · 14-02-2012 01:12AM

Couple of interesting ideas.

What I find interesting is besides keeping the low start up tax (which is a continuation of FF policy), this seems to be the most they've come up with. Good luck with 100,000 jobs, but I can't see it.

Basically, take out "the cut taxes and they will come" mantra of the last 20 years, not a whole lot left!

AlekSmart · 14-02-2012 01:19AM

There will also be a facility for the diaspora to contribute to investment in new enterprises which is modelled on a similar scheme in Israel.

Oh dear....I can see a substantial boycott of this type of thing when it's origins become widely known... :eek:

jank · 14-02-2012 01:26AM

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

Your home broadband has nothing to do with our ability to compete internationally for data centres.

I agree with this, people for some reason equate home BB to business/commercial BB in industrial parks that may have fiber.

lmimmfn wrote: »

datacentres? the article includes data centres and "a team will be established to drive the growth of digital gaming"

So, yes it does, because it signifies the availability of high speed broadband for startup IT companies outside of Dublin.

Unless all innovation occurs or should only occur in Dublin?

Em, no it doesnt! Unless you mean you want faster broadband so that you can play COD. There is good infrastructure in the larger urban areas where most of the country lives. It may not be Norway or South Korea but lets not kid ourselves that people in say Mallow have to rely on 56k dialup.

Govt promises 100,000 new jobs by 2016

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