Only strategy employed by FF/Green Govt is to plough billions into banks and watch Ireland Inc. go down the tubes
Speaking in the Seanad, Fine Gael Cork Senator, Jerry Buttimer, said that unless the Government diverts its focus away from the banks and towards job creation, our chances of economic recovery will be seriously diminished.
“The practice of bailing out the banks, with no apparent dividend for the people at the end of the process, while 440,000 people languish on the dole queues, must be brought to an end.
“Hope, vision and a plan for the creation of jobs must be provided but sadly none of these has so far been forthcoming from the Government. The report of the Innovation Taskforce states that ‘in order to achieve this vision and secure Ireland’s economic future we need to significantly increase our current rate of job creation and new company start-ups’. Our banks must play a significant role in this regard in assisting innovation and enterprise.
“The cost of doing business in Ireland is similarly not being addressed and our competitiveness is being gradually eroded as a result of a litany of failed Government policies.
“Fine Gael, on the other hand, has set out a raft of fully-costed and comprehensive job creation proposals such as NewERA, a national internship programme, a second chance education scheme and a PRSI holiday for employers which the Government has either roundly ignored or attempted to pass off as their own.
“There is a need to offer stimulus and hope for employment. Where Cork is concerned the model for this is the Eastern Gateway Bridge which has the capacity to kick start the docklands and create jobs.
“Fine Gael has never been afraid of making the hard decisions where banks, budgets or benchmarking are concerned. We recognise the need a more competitive Ireland and the need to follow the best practice where spending on energy, telecoms and water and our health service is concerned. It is high time that this feckless Government stood aside and made way for a Fine Gael-led Government with the will, ambition and know-how to get our thousands off the dole queues and back to work.”