Thursday 21st January 2016

New figures released by the IDA show that 3,419 IDA jobs were added to the Cork economy last year alone, an increase of 12% on the previous year.

These are high quality jobs that have a really positive knock on effect in the wider Cork economy. The IDA estimates that for every ten jobs created by foreign direct investment, a further seven are generated in the wider economy.

These figures show that the policies followed by this Government are helping to create jobs here in Cork and across the country. Every region had employment growth in 2015. All regions of the country have contributed to the over 135,000 new jobs that were added to the economy since the launch of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs. As part of the Our Regional Action Plans for Jobs are designed to increase employment in every region by 10-15% between now and 2020.

In total, 7,868 IDA jobs have been added to the Cork economy between 2011 and 2015 under the Fine Gael/Labour Government, an increase of 33% compared to 2010. This Government a long term economic plan that will continue helping the create new jobs and to keep the recovery going in Cork, ensuring a better quality of life for all. Job creation is crucial to this plan because having more people in work creates the resources to invest in better services such as childcare, healthcare and the justice system.

We cannot return to the irresponsible economics of Fianna Fáil who wrecked the economy and would destroy the hard won recovery given half the chance. Likewise Sinn Féin’s high tax policies would destroy our job creation prospects in no time at all and would drive foreign direct investment out of the country.

We must remain focused on the plan to continue creating jobs and keep the recovery going so that the benefits of recovery can reach every home in Cork.