Taoiseach to ‘hold ministers to account’ on jobs delivery
That is according to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton, who also stressed that banks needed to “transform” the way they work so that businesses could get finance.
He said the jobs plan was “going to be about the specific actions that we can and will deliver in 2012”.
The keynote speaker at a Shannon Chamber of Commerce event at Dromoland Castle in Co Clare yesterday, Mr Bruton said: “The Taoiseach will be holding to account ministers and it will embody ministers right across the Government every two months to the extent to which they are delivering on those job-related actions.”
He said the jobs plan would be published in the coming weeks.
Mr Bruton noted that the previous government’s plan for the smart economy was “a good document, lot of ideas and lots of aspiration, but a lot of people will reflect on that and say far too little of it actually happened”.
He said the Government’s jobs plan “is not just another report that has worthy things”.
The minister also said that “the banks are failing many people”.
He said: “Clearly, there are viable bankable projects being turned down and we have to make sure that no viable project is being turned away.
“The banks themselves recognise this and they will have to transform the way they work.
“The banks got carried away with a property- based economy which collapsed around our ears and we have to transform our economy and move to a successful enterprise, building export markets.
“The banks are struggling to keep up with the transformation. Government has to facilitate a better banking system.
“That is why the
Minister for Finance has set individual targets for €3.5 billion each year for the two ‘pillar’ banks to deliver to the community.
“They got too comfortable in what they were doing and they have to transform this. That is a transformation that they are undertaking — not quick enough for anyone’s liking,” he added.
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