Party President Michael Finnegan said that 18 months into power the Fine Gael / Labour coalition had not made the slightest dent in unemployment despite grandiose talk of putting Ireland back to work.

“The government’s jobs strategy”, said Mr. Finnegan “is an act in mass deception.  It has relied on high emigration, dead-end training and grossly exploitative internships to hide its shameful failure to deliver.” 

“When this government talks about activation of job seekers what it really means is their disappearance either on the boat or plane or into the revolving door of training schemes.  On top of 456,000 on the Live Register you have another 60,000 on a variety of schemes and training courses.  The truth is that this government does not have any job creation scheme and is ideologically opposed to the idea that the state itself should provide people with real work”.

“It is high time for the trade union movement to start asserting itself more; to fight back against the Fine Gael and right-wing media’s attack on the public sector, and to arm-wrestle the Labour Party into either fulfilling its pre-election promises or to get out of government. If the Labour Party has a death-wish so be it, but the trade unions must ensure that they and the workers they represent are not dragged down with Labour’s sinking ship”, said the Workers’ Party President.

Issued: 6th August 2012