Some 250,00 new jobs will be created under a Fianna Fáil-led government, the party claimed today.
Highlighting the €8 billion allocation to Research and Development in the National Development Plan (NDP) , Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin said job creation would be a "number one priority".
He said: "We are committed to doubling the investment in R&D, doubling our PhDs over the next five years in science, technology and engineering, doubling the spending of business expenditure on R&D and enhancing the Research & Development tax credit scheme."
He pointed out that Labour Party leader Pat Rabbitte was minister of state with responsibility for science and technology the last time he was in office. During this time the budget for R&D was "exactly nil", Mr Martin said.
He also criticised Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny who, he said, did not mention jobs in either his ardfheis speech or his "Contract for a Better Ireland" policy.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) were the "backbone of the economy", Mr Martin said, adding that "innovation vouchers" would be available for these businesses to avail of expert support.
Mr Martin predicted that SMEs would employ the bulk of the 250,000 promised jobs in services and that employment in high-end manufacturing would grow.
R&D would promote economic growth over the next five years and also benefit areas such as healthcare, the environment and the marine sector, Minister for Communications, Energy and the marine Noel Dempsey said.
"It is in the area of communications that the benefits of research and innovation are most apparent," Mr Dempsey said.
When questioned about the slow rollout of broadband, Mr Dempsey said "We have about 85 - 90 per cent covered by broadband, and within about 18 months we'll have it 100 per cent nationwide."
Mr Martin and Mr Dempsey were joined at the at the launch of Fianna Fáil's Next Steps Forwarddocument by Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin. She said that although fourth-level education would receive unprecedented funding, reforms at secondary level had already begun and would continue.
She said investment in education had trebled since 1997, creating 45,000 extra third-level places. "Now we are ready to take the next steps to ensure that Ireland's highly educated workforce continues to be the envy of our competitors for many years to come", she added.
But Sinn Féin enterprise spokesperson Arthur Morgan said the plan did nothing to promote regional development.
Mr Morgan said: ""The Government has also failed to proactively plan to meet future challenges to the economy, including specifically planning for workers employed in vulnerable sectors.
"Many of the jobs lost in rural areas are not being replaced - with devastating local effects."