Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Minister Richard Bruton has said it is not the case that all of today's jobs plan has already been announced.
Speaking on RTÉ's 6.1 News, Mr Bruton said that while some of the measures had been mentioned previously, they were now being implemented with specific timelines.
Mr Bruton said last year's jobs budget - which introduced PRSI concessions and a VAT cut - had created 6,000 jobs in the hotel and restaurant sector.
The Government earlier launched the ambitious jobs plan which aims to create 100,000 new positions by 2016 and a further 100,000 by 2020.
In an effort to address the difficulties small companies face accessing credit, the State is to guarantee 75% of some loans to small and medium businesses. That measure is expected to be operational by the second quarter of this year.
But some business groups have criticised delays in introducing the scheme.
The plan also includes a development capital scheme for companies with prospects of jobs and export growth. It will be backed by €50m of state investment which is expected to leverage up to €100m.
The jobs plan also sees the establishment of a new micro finance fund which will supply investment in small companies seeking less than €25,000. The fund will be worth €10m every year for ten years. The European Investment Bank will supply some of the equity.
Today's plan launches a finders' fee for people of Irish extraction abroad who succeed in bring major job projects to Ireland. There is also a facility for the diaspora to contribute to investment in new enterprises which is modelled on similar scheme in Israel.
The plan includes steps to encourage more mobile international entrepreneurs to start businesses in Ireland through a €10m State fund for investment in start-ups, improvement in immigration arrangements, a targeted marketing campaign and greater use of IDA Ireland's network.
A strategic investment fund will match private sector investment with money from the National Pension Reserve Fund. The NPRF will commit €250m and a further €1 billion will be sought from institutional investors in Ireland and overseas for infrastructural investment.
Under the plan, county and city enterprise boards will be dissolved. A new micro enterprise and small business unit in Enterprise Ireland will now work with local authorities. A corporation tax exemption will be extended for start-up companies until 2014.
Other measures will see better support indigenous companies to improve their performance, including increased mentoring of SMEs by top business leaders, multinationals and large Irish companies and helping small businesses to engage in R&D and innovation.
Under the plan, more SMEs will be helped to win big contracts, both from Government and from large multinationals while it also introduces measures to reduce costs, including a request to government department and agencies to identify, by next month, charges levied on business that can be frozen or reduced for 24 months.
Launching the plan, which contains over 270 actions to be implemented in 2012 by all 15 Government Departments as well as 36 State agencies, the Government said it will improve supports for job-creating businesses and remove barriers to employment-creation across the economy.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny rejected a suggestion that this was the fourth time the Irish people had heard such promises. He said that the jobs budget announced last year was different. But he added: "There are some things in here that have been lying around for a very long time. If they are good but they were not implemented, there is no reason they should not be implemented here."
He said the Government would target specific sectors with new policy supports and improve the way Government interacts with businesses by cutting costs and red tape. He said he expected to have two million people in employment by 2020.
Minister Bruton said there was no 'big bang' solution to the jobs crisis. He also said the pension levy was not funding any of the initiatives in this plan. "What we are spending here are a lot of the enterprise budgets... we are using it in a smart way" he added.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said Ireland was not going to change its rate of 12.5% corporation tax and he believed that had been accepted, in the main, in Europe.
Business groups unhappy with loan scheme delay
Business groups have mostly welcomed the plan, though there has been criticism of delays in introducing the loan guarantee scheme.
Employers' group IBEC welcomed the plan, with director general Danny McCoy saying it contained practical measures which would help businesses to create jobs.
But he said there was little in the plan to address the problem of lack of consumer confidence, adding that new thinking and greater ambition on this issue from the Government and the troika would be needed in the coming months and years.
Small business group ISME said it was disappointed, however, adding that the plan contained very little that was new or innovative, though it welcomed the fact that there were review and reporting timelines attached.
"What this administration has done is to draw together all of its various and varied actions into one document and, with their usual fanfare, announce it as a new initiative," said chief executive Mark Fielding.
The Small Firms Association said the plan recognised the key role played by small firms in the economy. But SFA chair Ian Martin said all the proposals must now be acted upon and delivered. He also said delays in introducing the loan guarantee scheme were placing small firms under financial pressure.
The Irish Exporters Association said the announcement on the loan guarantee scheme was "long overdue". But chief executive John Whelan said it seemed unreasonable to delay its start until the end of the second quarter.
The exporters' body welcomed the capital scheme and infrastructure fund elements of the plan, but added that the jobs target should be integrated into the existing Strategy for Investment, Trade and Tourism to 2015.
Mr Whelan also warned that the proposed abolition of County Enterprise Boards - with their tens of thousands of clients - and their amalgamation into Enterprise Ireland was likely to "swamp" the State agency and make it less effective.
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions said the plan's ambitious job creation targets would not be met until the Government addressed the "demand deficit" in the economy.
ICTU general secretary David Begg welcomed the plan as it showed a desire to place jobs at the heart of Government policy. But he said at least two more austerity budgets would shrink the economy to four-fifths its size before the crisis, meaning jobs would continue to be lost.
