merrion street

Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton today commented on this morning’s unemployment figures released by the CSO.

Speaking today the Minister said...

The decline in the unemployment rate from 14.8% in the last quarter of 2010 to 14% in the first quarter of 2011 is to be welcomed, but today’s figures remind us once again the scale of the unemployment challenge facing a new government. Emigration is now draining our country and our economy of some of our best and brightest people and we must do everything we can to create opportunities for them to stay here and  contribute to our recovery. That was one of the key focuses of the recent Jobs Initiative.

I have said repeatedly that Government itself does not create employment, but it has a crucial role in creating the environment where businesses can grow and create those much-needed jobs.

Minister Bruton continued...

I am determined to urgently implement a series of reforms to reduce business costs, increase access to finance and to encourage and support innovation in every way possible. The public sector, as a major economic actor in its own right, also has a key role in providing leadership in each of these areas and it is crucial that job creation becomes the top priority of organisations across government in a very real way.

The Minister concluded...

It took many years of misguided policies to get our country into the jobs crisis we face now and it will take a number of years of the right policies to get us out of it. That is why there isn’t a moment to lose in driving on with the reforms and policy changes needed to help turn our shared fortunes around.