Ireland’s ranking as a good place to do business will boost job creation – Corcoran Kennedy

Fine Gael TD for Laois/Offaly and Chair of the Oireachtas Jobs Committee, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, has today (Wednesday), welcomed the World Bank 2015 Doing Business Report which shows that Ireland’s overall doing business ranking has moved four places up to 13^th this year.

“Since the launch of the Action Plan for Jobs, over 70,000 jobs have been created across the country and the live register has dropped from a high of 15.1% to 11.1%. There are still undoubtedly people who have not yet felt the benefit of the improving economy and we need to see more job creation in regional areas, but as Ireland grows in competitiveness this improves our position for securing investment.

“It is particularly important that we work to capitalise on Ireland’s reputation to secure investment and to encourage growth in regional areas. Job creation in these areas is a priority for Government and I am very pleased that the Midlands has been chosen as the location for the pilot of the new regional enterprise strategy. This strategy will see Enterprise Ireland, the IDA and the new Local Enterprise Office (LEOs) come together to draw up a programme for growth. This will be done alongside the CEDRA report which has identified recommendations for the economic development of rural areas in Ireland.

“The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, is currently working on Action Plan for Jobs 2015 and the Government is focused on further improving the business environment to ensure that Ireland is the best small country in the world to do business. Our ranking as 13^th out of 189 countries in the Doing Business Report will assist in this goal.

“It is very encouraging to see positive development in the jobs market in recent months. 31 Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) have been set up as a first-stop-shop for local businesses seeking support, Construction 2020 will create 60,000 jobs while tacking the housing issue and over €500 million in additional credit has been made available to Irish SMEs through the new Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI).

“Ireland’s standing on the world stage as a good place to do business is positive news for everyone, international investment directly creates jobs and it has a knock-on effect on businesses in local communities.

“Today’s report ranks Ireland as 2nd in the Eurozone and 5^th in the EU overall behind Denmark, the UK, Finland and Sweden. Ireland is also amongst the top 10 counties in terms of the improvements achieved since last year; no other OECD or EU country made the best improvers list. Ireland is in a good position but the challenge now is to capitalise on this and to continue to create jobs. The Irish people have made huge sacrifices and we want to see those sacrifices rewarded and see our young people returning home.”