100,000 jobs lost since task force first announced in December 2008

The Government’s ‘smart economy’ announcement is yet another example of how they are always one task force away from making a decision that would stimulate job creation. Fine Gael has again invited the Government to adopt the Party’s innovation based, €11 billion, 100,000 jobs stimulus plan in order to address an ever-worsening unemployment crisis, stated Deirdre Clune, Fine Gael Innovation Spokesperson.

The Taoiseach has stated that ‘The Ireland of the future will be smart’ when the concerns of the people is how the find or keep a job in the Ireland of the present. It is an indication of how ineffective this Government is that an announcement in December 2008 is followed by another on the same issue six months later, during which time unemployment increased by over 100,000.

In December of last year Richard Bruton said that it was impossible to build a smart economy based on dumb decisions but the Government seem not to have accepted this. Their insistence on taxing their way back to economic recovery will impede any innovation in the economy. The Government’s claim that thousands of small and medium sized businesses will be created by their plan cannot be taken seriously when commercial rents cannot be negotiated downwards and Ireland’s complete lack of competitiveness is encouraging industry to leave rather than set up here.

The Government cannot expect a country to become a centre for innovation in the face of an unemployment crisis they refuse to deal with head on. It is wishful thinking and not founded on economic reality. They have consistently failed to take steps to stimulate employment, steps that Fine Gael have pointed to as being critical to addressing unemployment, including an €11 billion, 100,000 jobs stimulus plan, reversal of VAT increases, PRSI relief to employers, a five year rates freeze and by allowing business owners to negotiate downwards the commercial rent they pay.

The IMF report stated that Ireland is ‘the most over-heated of all advanced economies’ which makes Government talk of a ‘Smart’ economy all the more fanciful. People want to work for a living not hear about Government aspirations that have no basis in the today’s economic conditions.