Darby O Gill slur won’t hide Governments failed job creation plan

Cllr Anthony Kelly has reacted angrily to comments made by Wexford Minister Brendan Howlin, who said that opposition’s parties were practising “Darby O’ Gill” economics in their proposals to create employment. The Wexford Sinn Féin Councillor said these sorts of comments from a representative of a government that has done absolutely nothing to realistically reduce unemployment are brazen and pathetic. Cllr Kelly also said that it was ironic that the Minister would make his comments on the day that his Government handed over €1.25 billion to an unguaranteed bondholder of Anglo Irish Bank.

Cllr Kelly said;
“It's incredible that on the day our government chose to hand over €1.25 billion to an unguaranteed, unsecured bondholder, a senior Minister decided to attack the opposition on their job creation proposals. The “Darby O’ Gill” comments prove only one thing; that our government are becoming increasingly alienated with the wishes of the Irish electorate.”

“Over 440,000 people are signing on the live register. That’s not counting those people who are out of work and not entitled to claim benefits, or those people on retraining programmes. It’s also fails to include the many thousands who have emigrated. If there’s someone practising “Darby O’ Gill economics it’s certainly not the Sinn Féin opposition. Perhaps Minister Howlin should look a little closer to home.”

“Minister Howlin's comments are pathetic. The best the government can come with to deal with the unemployment crisis is to give the unemployed a “date of exit” by which time they must have found a job. Where will they find this job? Unfortunately Minister Howlin's colleague Joan Burton hasn’t planned that far ahead yet. Maybe they intend to start handing out free one way tickets to Australia for anyone who can’t find work. That’s if they don’t use up what little money we have left paying off unguaranteed bondholders first.”

“Sinn Féin has long argued that the only way to create employment is to invest in Ireland and the Irish people. By investing in the states infrastructure we can create employment, ensure that important social projects are developed and completed and jump start the local economy.”

“A €7 billion investment package in job creation and economic growth over 3 years could be funded from the remaining €5.3 billion in the National Pension Reserve Fund and €1.7 billion in funding from the European Investment Bank. The EIB will loan governments or the private sector up to 50% of a project’s funding if it meets their criteria of being a sound and sustainable project such as creating employment, developing infrastructure or combating climate change. This is what a sensible government would be doing instead of handing over taxpayer’s money to unsecured bondholders and imposing austerity taxes on struggling families. You would need a brazen neck to suggest creating jobs and economic growth was “Darby O’ Gill” economics.”