MINISTER RICHARD BRUTON has announced a forum of experts tasked with developing policy to create 20,000 new jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Senior executives, academics and State agency officials will come together to discuss the best ways of driving employment in the area.
The forum will enable a “frank and open exchange of views” between industry and Government, a statement from the Department of Jobs and Enterprise said, adding that the manufacturing sector employs 230,000 people today.
The positions are part of the 100,000 new roles the Government aims to generate as part of its Action Plan on Jobs. Minister Bruton said:
We have a strong base of high-end, world-leading multinational manufacturing companies operating in a range of sectors – we must aspire to replicate the success of international examples.
He added that manufacturing is “a key driver of innovation and technological advance” that “generates many additional secondary jobs”.
The Action Plan for Jobs set out the ambition to have 100,000 more people in work by 2016, of which 20,000 are to come from manufacturing. I am convinced that the set of actions I have announced today will be the start of ensuring that we retain and create the jobs in manufacturing that we need.
The expert forum includes officials from Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and Forfas, and businesspeople from the pharmaceutical, engineering and food industries.
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