The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Jobs Minister Richard Bruton published Action Plan for Jobs 2013, the next step in the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and accelerate the transition to a sustainable, jobs-rich economy based on enterprise, innovation and exports.

The Plan, which contains 333 actions to be implemented in 2013 by 16 Government Departments and 46 agencies, will build on the progress made in 2012 and continue to improve supports for job-creating businesses and remove the barriers to employment-creation across the economy. These actions are additional to the 249 actions already implemented under Action Plan 2012, which have helped support net growth of almost 12,000 in private sector employment in the past year. In the three years to March 2011 a net 250,000 jobs were lost in the private sector.

In a major departure from the 2012 plan, Action Plan 2013 contains seven headline “Disruptive Reform” measures – high-impact measures with highly ambitious deadlines, implemented in partnership with senior industry figures and selected because of their potential to have a significant effect on job-creation:


1. JobsPlus – over two years the State will pay €1 of every €4 it costs an employer to recruit a long-term unemployed person off the Live Register

2. ICT Skills – provide an additional 2,000 ICT graduate level professionals in 2013, and by 2018 lead Europe in terms of ICT graduates as a percentage of all third level graduates

3. Energy Efficiency – the Government will create a €70million Energy Efficiency Fund  to support 20 major projects in 2013 and ultimately create 5,000 jobs

4. Trading Online – get 2,000 more small businesses trading online in 2013 and 2014, with the creation of 3,200 jobs

5. Business Licences – create a single licensing application system for up to 25 licences in the retail sector, saving retailers over €20million per annum

6. Big Data – make Ireland one of the leading countries in Europe for Big Data, a sector growing by up to 40% per annum

7. Health Innovation Hub – Government will establish a world-renowned centre to establish Ireland as a leading location for start-up and growing medtech and healthcare companies

Other measures to be delivered in 2013 under the Plan include:

1. Foreign Direct Investment – IDA to target more than 130 new investments, secure €500million worth of R&D investment and help create 13,000 new jobs in 2013
2. Indigenous Companies – Enterprise Ireland will as part of a comprehensive programme of supports, financially support 155 high potential and early-stage start-ups, assist 300 companies develop new overseas markets through the Potential Exporters Division and will support over 1,000 companies on management development programmes
3. Global Sourcing – €500million in additional contracts in 2013 for Irish companies from multinationals based here
4. Access to Finance – By end 2013 new Government finance schemes worth over €2billion will be lending to businesses; pillar bank lending targets for 2013 increased to €4billion; Credit Review Office strengthened
5. Costs – New Government policy statement on economic regulation; the landmark Companies Bill will make it cheaper to start and run a company; and the Workplace Relations Commission that will merge five worker relations bodies into two will be operational by the second half of the year.
6. Science/research – through SFI, provide support to five new Research Centres of major scale, involving Government investment of over €150 million and leveraging an industry contribution of over 30%
7. Sectors – continue to target employment growth in key sectors, including manufacturing, agriculture/food, aviation and cloud computing.

The Government also appointed six Industry Partners to assist with the implementation and monitoring of the seven “Disruptive Reforms”. The six Industry Partners are:

1. Liam Caseyis the founder and Chief Executive Officer of PCH International
2. John Herlihy is Vice President, International SMB Sales and Head of Google Ireland
3. Sean O’Driscoll is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Glen Dimplex Group
4. Louise Phelan is Vice President of Global Operations Europe Middle East and Africa for PayPal
5. Heather Reynolds is an owner and Director of Eishtec
6. Dave Shanahan is Head of Strategic Health Initiatives worldwide in AbbVie

Action Plan for Jobs can be accessed at http://www.djei.ie/publications/2013APJ.pdf

The accompanying Tables of Actions can be accessed at http://www.djei.ie/publications/2013APJ_Annex.pdf