Taoiseach defends rebranding of his jobs budget

MINISTER FOR Finance Michael Noonan will launch in the Dáil a series of initiatives to “stimulate our indigenous economy”, Taoiseach Enda Kenny said as he rejected Fianna Fáil claims of a U-turn on a proposed jobs budget.

Mr Kenny said he had moved from referring to it as a jobs budget to calling it a jobs initiative because some people “seemed to get the view that this would be a sort of end-of-year budget”, with a lot of commentary talking about increased charges and taxes. “That’s not the purpose of what we’re doing here,” the Taoiseach said, adding that the initiatives would be “revenue-neutral”.

The Minister would announce a number of initiatives to stimulate the economy, “to promote confidence, to provide opportunities for people to go to work and for employers to be able to get credit and invest in their business and to stimulate the Irish national economy”, he said.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said during Leaders’ Questions that the Taoiseach seemed to be preparing for “another U-turn” on “the much-hyped but now hidden jobs budget”. He asked: “Is it a budget, is it a supplementary budget, an initiative, an economic stimulus or simply a revenueneutral press release?”

The Taoiseach, who retorted that the previous government had lost 250,000 jobs during its terms in office, said the move was to deal with unemployment and job creation. Mr Kenny dismissed Mr Martin’s attempt “to have a row as to whether it’s a budget or a jobs initiative” when there were 440,000 people out of work.

“The person who gets a job as a plumber or a plasterer or a chippie or whatever it is, is not going to be worried whether it’s a budget or a jobs initiative. He or she is going to be proud and privileged to have the dignity of having a job and being able to contribute to our society,” he said.

Mr Kenny said the initiatives “will add a stimulus to the indigenous economy to give some confidence, some hope and some encouragement to people to spend what has been saved and to get back into the jobs market”.

The revised memorandum of understanding with the IMF and EU will be published tomorrow and will reflect the jobs initiative.