The Irish government has published its Action Plan for Jobs 2017 which comprises 164 actions aimed at creating 45,000 jobs this year.

The plan was launched by Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Mary Mitchell O’Connor along with Enda Kenny, Taoiseach of Ireland.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation, Mary Mitchell O’Connor commented: “This year’s Action Plan has never been more important, with Brexit and other challenges in our external trading environment.  We remain committed to transforming the economy to one based on innovation and export-led growth and the Action Plan for Jobs 2017 sets short and medium terms responses to the volatility in the wider trading and investment environment. I am convinced that the effective delivery of the Action Plan can support the creation by business in all sectors and regions of an additional 45,000 jobs in 2017, towards our target of achieving full employment and an extra 200,000 at work by 2020. The Action Plans for Jobs have proved hugely successful and the whole-of-government approach adopted has supported the creation of an average 40,000 jobs each year since the plan was introduced." 

“The Action Plan for Jobs 2017 sets out the Government's response to the challenges of an uncertain external environment by ensuring that our economy remains sustainable, competitive and resilient,” Kenny said. “We will focus on getting the basics right including improving our competitiveness performance, ensuring our skills pipeline is aligned to labour market needs, driving innovation and promoting entrepreneurship and ensuring finance is available at competitive cost to support and underpin growth.”

The Action Plan for Jobs was introduced in 2012 as a key instrument of government to support job creation.  New plans are published annually, setting out clear actions and targets to help create positive conditions for job creation.

The target of the plan is to support the creation of 200,000 net additional jobs by 2020. There are nearly 190,000 more people employed now compared to when the first Action Plan was launched in 2012, surpassing the original target of an additional 100,000 jobs by 2016.