The Action Plan for Jobs is a welcome initiative but suffers some "key" deficiencies, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has said.
Congress general secretary David Begg said he was pleased to see a desire to create jobs at the heart of Government policy but that he feared a commitment to further austerity budgets would see more people out of work and emigration continuing for some time.
Mr Begg said the key problem with the plan was that the new measures were heavily weighted towards supply side economics but that "the real problem is lack of growth and a collapse of domestic demand".
Congress said it was concerned the plan "appeared to contain no proposals to counteract long-term unemployment".
Fianna Fáil said the plan displayed a "significant lack of imagination" on the Government's part and was more focused on organisational changes than stimulus measures.
The party's spokesman on jobs and enterprise Willie O'Dea said a move to dissolve local enterprise offices and replace them with a centralised body was "an unnecessary exercise in optics that will disrupt the system".
"Minister Bruton has acknowledged there is no 'big bang' in this plan to deal with the unemployment crisis. He is underselling it - there is absolutely no new thinking at all," Mr O'Dea said.
He said the temporary Partial Credit Guarantee for small businesses, the Temporary Partial Loan Guarantee Scheme and the Micro Finance Loan Scheme had been announced repeatedly over the last year.
"The Government's document simply draws every measure that has been announced over the past few years, including by the last administration, into one document," Mr O'Dea added.
Employers lobby Ibec said the plan featured a range of practical measures that would help businesses to create jobs. It warned that Government departments needed to work together to create the best possible conditions for growth and recovery.
Ibec director general Danny McCoy said the primary cause of unemployment was the lack of consumer confidence and domestic demand in the economy and that the initiative did little to address those problems.
"New thinking and greater ambition from both the Government and troika will be required in the coming months and years," Mr McCoy said.
Small firms group Isme said the plan was a disappointment as it contained few new measures and that the Government had once again flattered to deceive.
"The acid test is what new jobs will be created immediately as a result of Government action, and sadly, the answer is none," Isme chief executive Mark Fielding said.
