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Boston scientific redundancies highlight government failure in jobs crisis

Issued : Tuesday 9 February, 2010

The loss of 175 jobs in Boston Scientific highlights the urgent need to put in place a plan of action to deal with the rising number of people who have lost their livelihoods since the beginning of the economic crisis

My thoughts today first and foremost, are with Boston Scientific workers, many of whom face financial uncertainty in the coming weeks and months.

One out of every four young person nationwide is out of work and across Galway city and county, 4,700 people under the age of 25 are jobless.

Despite the increasingly dire figures that we see today, there is absolutely no indication whatsoever that the Government has any plan to get out us of this grim situation.

Unlike Fianna Fail and the Greens, Labour actually HAS a strategy which will create jobs and will create sustainable economic activity.

We believe that we need a new National Development Plan which will provide funding for shovel ready projects in areas like health, education and transport.

Our enterprise agencies should be properly funded so that they can support growth in jobs in the knowledge economy.

More places in training and education should be made available so that when the economy does begin to recover, we have the required national skill-set to take advantage.

In our pre-budget statement Labour proposed the creation of a special €1.150bn to get people back to work. Such a fund would deliver:

* Enterprise supports, including PRSI scheme for new jobs
* An additional 60,000 training and work experience place
* The fast-tracking of labour intensive capital projects

"Labour's objective is to re-tool the Irish economy, to wean it off its dependence on property, and return to export-led growth. This country can be a leader in the global knowledge economy, if we take the necessary steps now to support that change.

There is no silver bullet to solve this dreadful problem, but we do need a plan and this Government simply does not have one.