The Labour Party has proposed the establishment of a State investment bank.
Party leader Eamon Gilmore said the bank would be capitalised initially with €2 billion from the National Pension Reserve Fund and would have the capacity to borrow up to €20 billion.
“We feel such an initiative is necessary to get the real economy moving again,” Mr Gilmore said.
“We don’t believe we can wish jobs into existence. All of the talk about smart economy…it won’t happen of its own accord. It will require active intervention by the State and by Government through the mechanism of a State investment bank.”
Mr Gilmore said the State-established bank would have a Government-appointed board and would function independently as a “commercial state enterprise”.
The party’s finance spokeswoman Joan Burton said the Government was only concerned with “looking after Anglo”.
She said having large numbers of young men unemployed for long periods of time would have a “corrosive effect” on society.
Fine Gael deputy leader and finance spokesman Richard Bruton welcomed Labour's proposal, which he said was "entirely consistent" with his party's proposal for a National Recovery Bank.
"Fine Gael and Labour's priorities are diametrically opposed to those of the Government, which wants to pour billions of taxpayers' money into an unrestructured and dead bank like Anglo Irish. It is inconceivable for the Government to remain wedded to Anglo Irish Bank, given that none of this bail-out will lead to a single new loan or create a new job."
