Ministers Nash and Bruton speaking with Lolly Strahan of Lolly & Cooks in the Liffey Trust Centre (Photo by merrionstreet.ie)
The Irish Government has published a new plan aimed at creating an extra 93,000 jobs from start-up companies in the next five years.
The plan was launched on October 9th by Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton TD together with Minister of State for Business and Employment Ged Nash TD and Minister of State for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English TD.
The key targets in the plan include increasing the number of start-ups by 25pc and the capacity of start-ups to grow to scale by 25pc, as well as increase the survival rate in the first five years by 25pc.
Launching the plan Minister Bruton said: “In Ireland we have great entrepreneurs – we just don’t have enough of them. Given that two thirds of all new jobs come from start-ups, it is crucial that we improve our supports in this area if we are to create the jobs we need.
"That is why earlier this year I asked a group of academics and successful entrepreneurs – the people who have actually done it – to come up with a list of recommendations for how we can improve our performance in this area.
He added: "Many of their recommendations were for business or private institutions to implement – but there is much that Government can do to incentivise, support, promote and encourage more people to start businesses. We have set ambitious but realistic targets for ourselves – most importantly, a doubling of the jobs impact of start-ups by 2019."
Central Bank research shows that start-up companies in the first five years of existence account for two thirds of all new jobs created in Ireland. As part of the Action Plan for Jobs, the Government committed to develop and implement a plan to increase the number of entrepreneurs in Ireland and thereby support thousands of extra jobs.
Among the key measures in the plan are:
- Doubling the volume of funding to start-ups in Ireland from business angel investment. A total of approximately €70million is currently invested per annum by business angel investors in Ireland.
- Co-working and accelerator spaces available for start-up businesses right across the country. The LEOs and the Community Enterprise Centres will form a key part of this – and this will be part of a new system of supports for start-ups locally.
- New mentoring services for start-ups, including a national database of mentors
- Entrepreneurship programmes in schools, third and fourth level education, and in new apprenticeships systems
- New targets for Agencies, including a 12% increase in start-ups supported by Enterprise Ireland by 2015
- New marketing plan to promote Ireland abroad as a location for international start-ups
- Measures to promote entrepreneurship among under-represented groups – including women, young people, migrants and older people
- Specific reductions in the administrative burdens facing start-ups, including the length of time it takes to register a new business and the burden of applying for licences
- New supports for innovation by start-ups, and ambitious targets for Enterprise Ireland and SFI to increase innovation activity by start-ups
- New measures to support start-ups to sell abroad, including opportunities in supply chain of IDA companies
- An annual report to the Minister for Jobs, analysing Ireland’s performance in entrepreneurship against domestic and international benchmarks
The measures in the plan will be implemented through the Action Plan for Jobs process in 2015 and future years.
The National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship in Ireland is available at:
http://www.djei.ie/enterprise/smes/PolicyStatement
EntrepreneurshipinIreland.pdf
