SINN FÉIN HAS launched its jobs plan which it says will “demonstrate that with the political will the government can deliver 156,000 additional jobs”.

Sinn Féin spokesperson for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Peadar Tóibín was joined by party president Gerry Adams TD, deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald TD and finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty TD for the launch.

Deputy Adams said that the plan has been fully costed and provides a socially responsible way to reduce the deficit and create and retain jobs.

At the launch, Deputy Tóibín said: “In the last four years Ireland has shed more jobs than any other western state per capita since the Great Depression”.

We have identified €13 billion which can be sourced to create jobs, improve competitiveness and increase productivity. This would be funded from the National Pension Reserve Fund, European Investment Bank, incentivised investment from the private pension sector and we would end the capital spending cuts of this government.

He said that an investment of this scale would create about 156,000 jobs and retain up to 15,000 existing jobs.

Prioritise investment

It took six months to produce the proposal, and Sinn Féin said it will prioritise investment to:

• Revive the sugar beet industry and construct a new bio-refinery plant in the South East with the potential to create 5,000 jobs (€350 million)
• Invest in the rollout of next generation broadband across the 26 counties. (€2.5 billion)
• Kick start investment in water infrastructure (€500 million)
• Proceed with A5 dual carriageway (€400 million)
• Regenerate the Cork dockland area. (€600 million)
• Regeneration projects in Limerick and Dublin. (€960 million)

It will also build an additional 100 schools and refurbish 75 more over the next three years (€350 million); establish 50 new Primary Health Care Centres (€250 million); and develop an €1billion investment in sustainable wind power and wave energy.

Create jobs

In addition to this, Sinn Féin said it will seek to support business to create jobs by:

• Introducing a job retention scheme to protect 15,000 jobs (€100 million)
• Delivering value for money and jobs by opening up state procurement to small companies.
• Giving the option to self-employed people to pay PRSI as it is applied to PAYE employees, in order to receive the same entitlements if they become unemployed.
• Abolishing upward only rents.
• Capping utility costs for a period of three years.
• Examine a temporary rebate on fuel for transport firms.
• Prioritising prompt payments by ensuring the 15-day rule is adhered to by state agencies.
• Examining the use of tax credits for sourcing local Irish produced materials.
• Tackling the costs of doing business on the border, including credit card transaction fees, telecommunication charges and dual tax and payroll systems.

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