Ireland’s recovery is fragile but Fine Gael’s Long Term Economic Plan will Keep the Recovery Going

Fine Gael Ministers have today (Saturday) set out the party’s Long Term Economic Plan, which will Keep the Recovery Going.

Ministers Michael Noonan, Richard Bruton, Simon Coveney, Paschal Donohoe and Simon Harris were speaking at the Party’s 78th Ard Fheis in the Citywest Hotel.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said “thanks to the hard work of the Irish people and the policies pursued by this Government over the last five years the country is doing well. Confidence is increasing and the recovery is beginning to reach all parts of the country. Fianna Fáil claim that they are responsible for the recovery. This claim reminds me of Comical Ali in Bagdad claiming victory while the American tanks rolled in behind him.

“The recovery we are experiencing is fragile, but Fine Gael has a Long Term Economic Plan that will Keep the Recovery Going. The plan has three steps – more and better jobs, making work pay and sensible investments in public services.  The first step is to create more job opportunities spread across the country. This is why the Fine Gael manifesto will commit to more measures to support business, including sectoral growth strategies, doubling to 31,000 the number of apprenticeships, an additional €42 billion in infrastructural investments and the protection of the 12.5% Corporation Tax.

Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton said “the only way that we can ease the pressure on families through tax cuts, and invest in the services that people rely on, is to grow the economy. That is why we have put job-creation at the heart of our long economic term plan – it is only by growing the economy and creating jobs that we can create the resources needed to do everything else we need to do. Other parties will spend the election campaign arguing over how they will spend the resources created by the recovery, without any plan to actually keep that recovery going. The recovery is fragile. It didn’t happen by accident and it cannot be taken for granted. Fine Gael believes that the first step must be to keep the recovery going, and through our plan we will deliver on that by continuing to rebuild a competitive economy based on enterprise and exports. Only in this way will we be able to invest in services, ease pressure on families and ultimately create a better country for people to live in.

Minister Paschal Donohoe said “after years of the Fianna Fáil recession, we are now talking about the future, about the potential we have to invest in that future and about how that investment will reap the rewards the Irish people deserve. Fine Gael wants to create jobs and make work pay but just as crucially we want to use the revenues generated by those new jobs to invest in new services and new infrastructure. Fianna Fáil have lots of ideas about how to spend money but precious few about creating the jobs that will give them the money to spend – they haven’t changed a bit since the crash.

Minister Simon Coveney said “Fine Gael’s commitment is simple: our policies will continue to create more jobs, ensure that work pays and grow the economy to finance better and fairer public services. Without a strong economy promises to improve public services are nothing more than unaffordable aspirations – the kind of talk we hear from Fianna Fáil. Help us finish the job we began five difficult years ago – let’s keep the recovery going with a Fine Gael led Government.

Minister Simon Harris said “we will not just work day and night to create jobs across this country and reach full employment.  We will also work to make sure that jobs pay, that tax doesn’t cripple hard-working families and that we have a welfare system that supports families trying to access employment and makes sure that work pays more than welfare. Working parents with two children will benefit by more than €1,500 per year under Fine Gael’s plans to replace Family Income Supplement with a new Working Family Payment. We’ll offer every parent working at least 15 hours per week a “better off at work guarantee” and ensure they earn at least €11.75 per hour. This will be the biggest shake-up in social welfare policy in a generation.”