Where’s the fella who’s creating the jobs?

Taoiseach Enda Kenny wants 75,000, or more than two in five long-term unemployed people back in work by 2015. That, starkly, is the ambition of the re-launched ‘Pathways to Work’ initiative announced on Friday.

Given that success will mean a near three-fold increase in the rate of employment growth, and that this increase is expected to come from the ranks of the long-term unemployed, the plan is certainly ambitious.

The launch of the 50-point plan was signalled in Mr Kenny’s announcement on Wednesday which drew attention to three critical components of the Government’s strategy to tackle long-term unemployment.