Labour candidate for Donegal North-East Jimmy Harte has said that with the right policies, the Irish economy can create jobs and return to prosperity.
Cllr Harte was speaking following the launch of Labour’s “Plan for Stability and Growth” which he attended in Dublin last week. The plan was unveiled in Labour Headquarters on Wednesday.
“Areas like Donegal need correct pro-jobs policies to be put in place over the coming years. We need to get people back to work locally, producing services and generating revenue in the local community.
“As an election candidate with experience of setting up and maintaining their own business, I have a unique understanding of job creation and this is one of my key policies going forward,” he said.
Cllr Harte said the cuts proposed by Fianna Fail and Fine Gael over the next three years pose an unacceptable risk to jobs and growth, unlike Labour’s proposals.
He explained that there are three main planks to Labour’s plan for stability and growth – forward thinking, saving public money and fairer taxes. A key part of the plan is to renegotiate the EU/IMF deal by extending its terms by a year to 2016.
“Labour wants to safeguard Ireland’s future economic and employment growth, and that means renegotiating the EU/IMF deal by extending its terms by a year to 2016, making savings in public spending and eliminate waste, and introducing a fair tax system,” Cllr Harte said.
The fact that Donegal live register figures soared this week – despite a national decrease overall – is indicative of how profound the economic crisis still is on a local level, he added.
“We owe it to the ordinary people on dole queues, to those who have suffered cuts in income and child benefit, or hikes in mortgage rates, to those in negative equity, or those being forced to emigrate abroad.
“We owe it to these people to go back to Europe, and reorganise and restructure this arrangement. In short, they deserve a better deal,” he said.
“As a result of Fianna Fail mismanagement of the Irish economy and the disastrous blanket bank guarantee, Ireland faces a profound banking, fiscal and jobs crisis, and has been to seek external financial assistance.
“ This has been provided by the IMF and EU through an assistance programme that provides a loan facility to Ireland. While Labour supports the objective of the Programme – repairing the banking system, achieving fiscal stability and returning the Irish economy to growth – we are firmly of the view that the deal struck with the EU and IMF does not provide the best basis for achieving these objectives.”