Stability will lead to jobs, says Gilmore

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said he shared many people’s frustration at the impact of austerity, but insisted economic stability would lead to jobs growth.

In an address to an Economic and Social Research Institute conference on globalisation yesterday, Mr Gilmore said financial stability was not a goal in itself. Instead, Ireland would need to follow a path of sustainable economic growth based on innovation and higher productivity.

“Of course, there is extensive debate about the implications for employment of simultaneous austerity across Europe, and I share the frustration of many on that score,” he said. “But if we are to make full use of that stability, then we have to have a robust European model of economic growth.” He said an economic model based on innovation would deliver much longer-lasting benefits.

Investment

The country had already benefited from investment in research and development and was now among the top-ranking countries for the quality of research in nanotechnology, material science and other areas. Greater efforts were needed to give Ireland the edge. Mr Gilmore said the jobs strategy was focused on improving innovation.

“For example, we are taking measures to shift our education and training systems to increase the number of graduates with IT skills. We are developing new forms of finance for SMEs, and high-performance start-ups.

“The strategic investment fund, which is inheriting the assets of the National Pension Reserve Fund, will have an explicit mandate to provide finance of this kind.”

Start-up companies

He said the strategy also focused on start-up firms and “scale-up” companies, “so that we can have more firms who employ, not just 10 or 20 people, but 200 or 300 people.” Across the Government, he said, policymakers were looking at how we could support and improve innovation in our businesses.

“As the global centre of economic gravity shifts, and emerging economies account for a greater share of economic activity and trade, countries like Ireland have to ensure that we are linked to the global centres of growth. China is a critical piece of that puzzle, but by no means the only piece,” he said.

“We cannot hope to build a competitive European economy if we allow so many young people to remain unemployed. Bringing those people back into the productive economy is absolutely vital.”