TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny has said that his Government has restored a “high level of confidence” to the economy which has resulted in improved job creation.
Mr Kenny said there had been a number of reminders of that this week – the announcement by US pharmaceutical company Mylan of 500 additional jobs, yesterday’s announcement of a further 500 jobs by Apple, and comments by IMF chief Christine Lagarde that Ireland was making real progress.
He was speaking at a press conference where the Government said it had delivered on all but three of the 83 measures it set out for the first three months of its action plan for jobs.
He said the three that had been delayed were the cloud computing strategy, an initiative to cluster businesses and industry and the women in business plan. Progress had been made on all three.
The four-year plan, launched in January, set out 270 actions which the Government says can create an extra 100,000 jobs by 2016. Mr Kenny, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton said 96 per cent of the targets had been met in the first quarter.
Mr Kenny said that among the major initiatives was the launch of “Succeed in Ireland”, a plan to reward those who persuade international companies to provide jobs in Ireland.
He said that at the announcement of 500 jobs in Baldoyle this week, Mylan chief executive Heather Bresche had said the decision to invest was an easy one “based on productivity of the workforce”. The further announcement of 500 jobs by Apple yesterday made it a good week for jobs.
“Christine Lagarde of the IMF said yesterday that real progress is being made in Ireland. UCD and the Chinese authorities [have linked up] and the scientific analysis for Irish beef to enter China is now in train,” the Taoiseach added.
“All of that leads me to say very strongly that it is critical for us to keep the high level of confidence moving in this country. It’s another reason why people should vote Yes on May 31st [in the fiscal compact referendum].”
Mr Gilmore said the core objective of the Government was economic recovery. “There is no magic bullet. We have to get there by grinding out the hard work day by day.”
In a reference to The Irish Times poll on the fiscal stability treaty, Mr Gilmore said the most significant finding was that almost 40 per cent of voters had yet to make a decision on how they would vote.
“What we are doing is running the most vigorous information campaign. Everybody in the country will know what the information on the treaty is.”
Asked about discussions with the troika, Mr Kenny said the talks were being conducted by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin. He suggested that talks on the promissory note would not conclude in this quarter.
“As far was we are concerned, the negotiations on the promissory note will be a serious matter for the Government in the time ahead,” he said.
