Sinn Fein TD for Dublin North West Dessie Ellis has called on the government to listen to his party’s proposals for job creation today. He made his comments following the launch of the ‘Jobs Plan – Enterprise Policy for the 21st century’, saying job creation was an essential ingredient in building economic prosperity.

The document is a detailed 60 page job stimulus package which sets out a comprehensive plan for making youth employment a national priority; assisting businesses and manufacturing; developing the agri-food sector; reforming the existing enterprise agencies; promoting co-operatives and much more.

Deputy Ellis continued;

“Jobs are at the route of this crisis. With close to half a million people on the Live Register and no signs of this changing we need a new approach by the state and real stimulus in our homes, communities, public services and businesses

Ballymun and Finglas are once again employment blackspots with highs of 44% and 35.7% . Live Register numbers have gone up or remained high over the last year. We need to break this cycle and use job creation to do it.

Like our alternative budget proposals, which we will bring forward next month, this plan has been fully costed and provides a socially responsible way to reduce the deficit and create and retain jobs.

In this Jobs Plan, Sinn Féin presents a real, detailed jobs stimulus strategy that will invest €13 billion into job creation and retention, and create an average of 156,000 short and long term jobs.

It has been a mantra of Sinn Féin that you cannot cut your way out of recession.

The money is there; in the National Pension Reserve Fund, the European Investment Bank, the private pension sector, and in the money the government plans to cut from its capital budget spend.

This is not rocket science.

The scandal is that this government will continue to fritter away the money in the NPRF; put money into toxic banks, and pay off unguaranteed bondholders, while older citizens lose home care supports, and there is one reduction after another in wages; support for lone parents; carers; citizens with disabilities; the blind and the unemployed.

Fine Gael and Labour have no strategic vision of how to invest the money in the National

Pension Reserve Fund in a way that can help the economy in the long term.
Sinn Féin has a strategy.

It is a thoughtful, rational, well developed and costed plan that will use the available resources in an intelligent – smart way.

There will be those who disagree with our proposals. That’s fine. Let them do so constructively and provide their alternative.”