Investment in indigenous industry and infrastructure are central to an ambitious jobs plan published by Sinn Féin on Thursday (11th October).
Sinn Féin spokesperson for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Peadar Tóibín said: “In the last four years Ireland has shed more jobs than any other western state per capita since the Great Depression. Last year the economy lost 33,400 jobs. In 2011 our communities lost 87,000 to emigration.
“It is clear that government policy is not working. The government has paid lip service to job creation. Their ambitions for this state are limited to Troika-led retrenchment. Private investment has reduced by €30 billion. Government has withdrawn €24 billion.
He added: “We have identified €13 billion which can be sourced to create jobs, improve competitiveness and increase productivity. This would be funded from the National Pension Reserve Fund, European Investment Bank, incentivised investment from the private pension sector and we would end the capital spending cuts of this government.
“An investment of this scale would create about 156,000 jobs and retain up to 15,000 existing jobs. Smart investment will secure sustainable jobs and our national competitiveness into the future.
“Our jobs plan will invest in essential infrastructure; help entrepreneurs by removing obstacles to doing business and supporting them to retain and create new jobs; exploit the potential of existing and new state enterprises particularly in broadband rollout, renewable energy and eco-tourism and invest in agri-food and rural communities.
Among the proposals in the extensive and rigorously costed jobs plan are the construction of a new bio-refinery plant in the South East with the potential to create 5,000 jobs; investment in the roll-out of next generation broadband across the 26 counties; regeneration of the Cork dockland area; the Establishment of 50 new Primary Health Care Centres and a €1billion investment in sustainable energy.