Job creation strategy - Plan lays out vision more than action

Considering the state of the economy, people could be forgiven for viewing the Government’s commitment to create 100,000 jobs by 2016 and 100,000 more by 2020 more as an ambitious vision than an action plan.

With 450,000 unemployed, and thousands seeking work abroad, people are hoping against hope that jobs will somehow be created. But the sheer scale of the grand design outlined in the four-year programme of the Fine Gael-Labour coalition is bound to be questioned by those made cynical by the failure of successive administrations to honour political promises.

Despite such negative sentiments, the publication of an action plan for jobs deserves to be welcomed. The challenge facing Government will be to convince the public of the merits of such a wide-ranging programme that includes 270 measures to be delivered this year alone, involving an input from 15 Government departments and 36 State agencies.