We can’t create jobs, warns Jobs Minister

JOBS Minister Richard Bruton has warned that the Government can’t create new jobs and it is up to successful companies to come up with their own plans and develop their own markets in order to expand.

Speaking at the announcement of 250 jobs at a contact centre in Waterford city, Mr Bruton said he couldn’t commit to any future job creation projects, but that the Government will “support companies” who come forward with plans.

He also said that banks still have “a lot to learn” about operating in a small, open economy where access to credit is vital to the small business sector.

Yesterday’s employment boost came at Eishtec, a contact centre set up early last year which currently employs 30 people but is embarking on the major recruitment drive after securing an important contract with telecommunications giant Orange.

The boost for the region comes four months after British company TalkTalk announced that it was closing its Waterford city contact centre, with the loss of 575 jobs. This prompted Mr Bruton to establish a south-east employment task force.

Eishtec was established by Colm Treacy, Brian Barry and Heather Reynolds — the latter two of whom left TalkTalk local management some months before its withdrawal.

Ms Reynolds said at the launch at the company’s headquarters in Cleaboy Business Park, on the outskirts of Waterford city, that the expansion couldn’t happen without the support of Enterprise Ireland.

Just one day after up to 1,100 employees of Ulster Bank and Diageo learned they are set to lose their jobs, Mr Bruton was asked what commitments he could give regarding further job creation projects. But he said there were no guarantees.

“Announcements of that nature are about companies and their plans,” Mr Bruton said. “We will support companies coming forward with plans and I certainly am hopeful we’ll be able to make further announcements. But it’s not government who create jobs, it’s successful companies developing new markets and new niches and new ideas who do so, and we support them.”

Pressed on specific projects which may come to light thanks to his employment action plan for the region, Mr Bruton replied: “I’m not offering guarantees. What I’m doing is saying that we’ve made a central focus on this.”

In relation to the future of the banking sector, Mr Bruton said: “I think the banks have a lot to learn and a lot to re-learn about what it is to be banking to a small, open economy whose life’s blood is small business and there’s no doubt that small business has struggled very severely in the last number of years.”

The Government has “taken on the banks, head-on”, he said, and wants them to meet specific targets.

“Government doesn’t want to be running banks in the long term, so we have to create a strong, viable banking sector that can stand on its own feet, that can serve the economy and that doesn’t depend on the crutch of government in the long term.”