Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 November 2016
17. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if she will ensure that when her Department is recording job figures from IDA or Enterprise Ireland supported companies, that the numbers of such jobs that are supported by the Department of Social Protection, such as JobPath and so on, are separately reported; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33002/16]
View answerMy priority is to deliver on the Government’s goal to help create 200,000 additional jobs by 2020, including 135,000 jobs outside Dublin. I am working closely with the Minister for Social Protection to ensure we can provide every opportunity for those unemployed to secure a job.
In September 2013, in the context of maximising the employment of appropriately skilled people from the Live Register by enterprise agency clients, a protocol was agreed for co-operation between the Department of Social Protection and my Department, EI, IDA and the LEOs. 'Pathways to Work’ contains a commitment for my Department and the enterprise development agencies to continually monitor recruitment from the Live Register, working with the CSO.
In relation to the recording the jobs figures in firms supported by the enterprise agencies, my Department undertakes an Annual Employment Survey of client companies of EI, IDA and Údarás na Gaeltachta. The survey, in existence since 1972, is a census of employment in the agency supported firms. It is a voluntary survey and elicits the limited necessary employment numbers in response to two short questions, with minimum administrative burden for the 8,000 companies surveyed. It is not designed to report on jobs supported by the activities of other Government Departments.
