National jobs emergency must be addressed

A few weeks ago, I was high up on a ridge over Sheep’s Head in West Cork.

It was a beautiful morning and a wild wind was blowing against a cobalt blue sky as we looked west across the Atlantic.

Over the years, I’ve been fortunate enough to visit places that are presented as important global tourist destinations, but all of them pale next to what is on offer here.

We must leverage this great asset more aggressively to aid the recovery of the economy.

Some weeks ago I argued the case for making Cork a global base for annual Rory Gallagher music festivals.

A business acquaintance of mine argued forcefully about the same time that Ennis should be transformed in to a globally relevant wellness centre that uses the web and innovation to position the place for a worldwide audience. Turning Sheep’s Head in to the go-to trekking centre of the planet is another idea.

Are these thoughts really as half-baked as the absence of any response from politicians or policymakers implies?

Have we become so beaten down by austerity and revelations of corruption that new ideas expire soon after being proposed?

Is the only way to make progress in this country to have a nod and wink cute hoor relationship with councillors and TDs around the country?

Just look at the assets we have available. A nephew of mine recently did an interview with a British company over Skype from his home outside Cork.

So, our broadband capabilities allow face-to-face, low-cost access with employers and potential customers around the world.

We speak English, which happens to be the most used language in our fast-growing world population.

We have surplus capacity in the property market, courtesy of past excesses, that can offer inexpensive accommodation for international students, tourists and business people. We offer a corporate tax regime second to none worldwide.

Despite all this, and even allowing for significant investment wins from global multinationals, unemployment hovers around 14%. It’s just not good enough.

I’ve had my fill of corruption in politics, certain parts of corporate Ireland, and inside the Catholic Church.

Instead of learning from these shameful episodes, however, the country seems transfixed by a bitching contest over who to blame next.

That energy could be deployed into taking measures needed to convert this island into a job machine and one capable of stemming the greatest failing of all — rampant emigration.

I was having a rasher in a cafe in Macroom at the weekend and a waitress was explaining how her son and his friend had just emigrated to Perth, Australia. She had the usual talk about the internet making communication easier and the importance of having a job instead of being on the dole.

Yet we all just knew she ached about her son having to travel so far to make a living. Any of us in work here have a responsibility to tackle that.

While listening to the cynical and hollow utterances of various politicians and self-promotion media types, I wonder where our priorities lie. Ireland, in case some of these jokers don’t know, is in a state of national emergency.

Normality is suspended until that crisis is addressed by delivering sustained job creation, debt relief at the national level through a “Marshall Plan 2” and the removal of the continued threat of economic annihilation that is now in the hands of the troika.

When all that is done, I just might tolerate the clowns that dominate Ireland’s national discourse presently. But, until then, they can all shag off.

* Joe Gill is director of research with Bloxham Stockbrokers