TRADE Minister Batt O’Keeffe has denied he was hanging the IDA "out to dry" by not giving the job creation agency there sources it needs to attract investment.
The minister was at the centre of a major political row after it emerged IDA chairman Liam O’Mahony wrote to him earlier this year expressing alarm that the body’s staff had been slashed by 50 people since the economic crisis hit in 2008. The agency indicated it would struggle to achieve its task of creating more than 100,000 jobs over the next four years as part of the Horizon 2020 initiative.
However, Mr O’Keeffe insisted the IDA would be "satisfied" when he announces funding for the agency in the coming days, but refused to say whether the 50 positions would be returned.
Fine Gael spokesperson on skills and training Fergus O’Dowd accused the minister of losing control of the situation, stating it was a "no-brainer" to give the IDA full resources during an unemployment crisis.
Mr O’Keeffe denied he was not providing the money the IDA needs, insisting the Government hadapproved giving the IDA funding priority.
"I’m not hanging them out to dry. Liam O’Mahony wrote to me in June outlining his concerns in relation to staff numbers and meeting targets it set itself in relation to Horizon 2020. I called him in and indicated that I shared his view that agencies such as enterprise ireland and the IDA had a particular case.
"We know exactly what their needs are now, I think they will be quite satisfied when I advise them this week of the actual outturn.
"Everybody is looking for additional jobs, what I am concerned about is what will allow them to meet their additional targets," he told RTÉ.
Mr O’Dowd said the minister needed to get a better grip on the situation.
"I think this shows how completely out of touch the minister is with the real world. We are in the middle of an unemployment crisis and it seems unbelievable that would be a time to cut jobs at a job creation agency like the IDA.
"It is a no-brainer to fully fund the IDA at this time – you don’t cut jobs from a job creator," he said.
Mr O’Mahony did not pull back in his letter to Mr O’Keeffe, which was sent on behalf of the IDA chief executive and its board.
"Minister, on behalf of the IDA board, I cannot overstate the gravity and urgency of this situation," it stated.
It warned that foreign direct investment could be lost because of the staffing situation at the agency.
Work creation schemes in unemployment black-spots like Limerick could suffer unless the IDA receives more resources.
Mr O’Keeffe has highlighted the Horizon 2020 initiative as a key plank in the Government’s strategy to reduce unemployment with the Live Register currently standing at more than 450,000 people.
Mr O’Keeffe also denied that the final cost to the taxpayer of the Anglo Irish Bank bail-out would hit €35 billion as a ratings agency had predicted.
a d v e r t i s e m e n t
This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, August 30, 2010
