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First annual report on Programme for Government

The Taoiseach & Tánaiste today launched the first Annual Report on the Programme for Government agreed in March 2011. The Report provides an account of delivery of Programme for Government commitments during the Government’s first year in office.

Speaking at the launch, the Taoiseach said:

Our bank reforms have stabilised the financial system. Our jobs initiatives have helped to stabilise the employment situation. There are still far too many people out of work, but figures published today provide some encouraging evidence of this stability… We have made a solid start in addressing the many challenges facing the country and ultimately bringing about Ireland’s recovery.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said:

Nobody recognises more than the Taoiseach and I how much more we have to do... What has been achieved has not been easy. It has required us to make difficult decisions – decisions that neither of us would ever have wanted to make. But those difficulties are nothing compared to what the Irish people are going through. If we have achieved stability, it is their hard work and sacrifice that has been the key to success.

Among the commitments from the Programme for Government that have been delivered are the Financial Measures bank re-structuring and recapitalisation programme begun in March 2011, which stabilised the banking system and freed up lending capacity at substantially less cost to the taxpayer than had been originally budgeted for by the previous Government; stabilising the live register through the Jobs’ Initiative (May 2011) and the publication of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs (February 2012) and Pathways to Work, which have given effect to the vast majority of the Government’s commitments in relation to job creation and reducing unemployment.

Priorities for the next year will include further enhancements to the IMF-EU bail-out to reduce the legacy cost of the bank bail-outs and to free up space for investment and growth and protection of front-line services by modernising public sector work practices and abolishing or amalgamating agencies.

Read the Taoiseach's speech here.

Read the Tánaiste's speech here.

Read the full report below:

The following link is to a PDF filePfG Annual Report - Final Version

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