Bringing Jobs to Leinster

Posted by Keith Martin on May 18, 2009 at 05:13 PM

Jobs Policy Launch in Maynooth

Today I was delighted to be joined by former Finance Minister, and Chairperson of the European Council of Finance Ministers, Ruairi Quinn TD, and local Dáil Deputy Emmet Stagg for the launch of my jobs strategy for Leinster.  You can see the full document on the Labour website.  The strategy would get thousands of people back to work in the short term, and lay the foundations for high skilled jobs in future industries to be created in the region.

My proposals include the creation of an Innovation Micro-Finance Pool, which will allow very small companies and individual entrepreneurs get the money they need to move from the early stages to the level at which they can be successfully grown.  I also propose the creation of niche technology clusters, as has been successfully done in Canada.  For example, NUI Maynooth’s existing expertise in microelectronics, wireless communications and technology could be used to create one of the world’s first wireless electricity expertise clusters here at the university.  

Government action can create jobs – by adjusting tendering rules, investing in infrastructure and using environmental legislation to drive demand.  We must also support businesses to adjust to the changes caused by globalisation and upskill our entire workforce.

When Labour was last in Government in 1997, and Ruairi Quinn was Minister for Finance, we were creating more than 1,000 jobs per week.  Economic growth was at almost 10%, while inflation was less than 2%.  Today, Ireland is losing 4,000 jobs a week, and we’ve seen one of the biggest drops in growth in living memory.  It is vital that we act now to ensure the speedy recovery of our economy.

I'd be delighted to get readers' feedback on the policy in the comments below.

On a different note, the opinion poll in Saturday's Irish Times was pleasing.  It was good to see the great response we've been getting on the ground reflected in something scientific and statistical!  But this is no time for complacency.  We still have a long way to go in this campaign, and we can be sure that some big event will arrive on the scene that will shake up the polls.  Deaglán de Breadún also had a piece in the same paper written out on the canvass trail with me in Tullow last week.

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