Dept of Transport, Tourism & Sport playing its part in getting the country back to work – Donohoe

29th January, 2015

Speaking today (Thursday) following the launch of the 2015 Action Plan for Jobs (APJ) by the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD said his own Department had and will continue to play a constructive role in turning the fortunes of the country around and in creating much needed jobs.

 

Minister Donohoe went on to say that his focus, and the focus of his Department, is on the most effective ways to support economic growth so that the Government’s plan to create an additional 40,000 jobs this year can be delivered.

 

“When the Action Plan for Jobs was initiated in 2012, the target of 100,000 additional jobs being created by 2016 seemed ambitious to some. Since that time we have seen the creation of 80,000 new jobs with the Government on tract to exceed initial targets. What’s more, the goal set by Government of reaching full employment by 2020 has been brought forward by two years, with unemployment expected to fall to below 10% by year end.

 

“As a whole of Government approach, which involves all 16 Government Departments and 46 Agencies, the Action Plan for Jobs has delivered almost one thousand actions to date. All Departments are committed to working to ensure that success rate is maintained in 2015 so that jobs can be delivered and our people can get back to work.

 

“From my perspective, an additional 50,000 jobs in the tourism sector have been identified for delivery through my new Tourism Policy Statement – ‘People, Place and Policy – Growing Tourism to 2025’. Tourism Action Plans, the first of which will be published in 2015, will put the structures in place to grow employment in the sector to 250,000, generate €5 billion in overseas visitor revenue and see ten million overseas visits to Ireland by 2025.

 

“Plans to rebrand Dublin, so we can grow the city’s international appeal and compete better with other European cities in attracting visitors, together with the further development of the Wild Atlantic Way and an exciting new tourism initiative for the south, east and midlands will also help us to build on recent success in growing visitor numbers and ensuring that job creation happens across the country.

 

“In transport, I will continue to support investment in public transport so that capacity can be increased and services that meet the needs of the public can be delivered. Projects such as the LUAS Cross City, which will add an additional 10 million passenger journeys when it is complete in 2017, and investment in Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Bus Éireann will help ease congestion and assist in progressing our economic growth in the years to come. Investment in sport, through the Sports Capital Programme and projects such as the National Indoor Arena at the National Sports Campus, the contract for which was signed just last week, will encourage participation in sport among local communities and provide world class facilities for our high performance athletes.

“Further measures from my Department, contained within the APJ 2015, involve simplifying interactions between the State and firms/agencies through the use of e-services, which will further improve the environment for hundreds of thousands of business, help cut costs and streamline business. I look forward to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport playing its part in 2015 in meeting the Government’s job creation objective and making Ireland a better and more secure place in which to live.”

 

#allaboutjobs

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