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​Stimulus Plan shows up a Government full of old thinkingGreen Party Communications | 17.07.2012 | Back to News | News Archive
Stimulus Plan shows up a Government full of old thinking
We should be pumping resources into a new green and digital economy rather than into bitumen, bricks and mortar.
Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan said today: "This Plan is a throwback to the last century when the only way Irish politicians knew of stimulating the economy was to pump money into the construction industry. Most of the Ministers in the cabinet cut their political teeth back in the 1970s and 80s and they are now applying the outdated thinking from those days to a totally different Irish economy."
"The Government says it cannot do public transport because the projects are too big, but the truth is that the companies bidding to build Metro North vowed never to work here again, following the Government's rash decision late last year to abandon the project. That was the most 'shovel ready' project of them all, with funding approved by the European Investment Bank. It fell foul of the 'austerity economics' beloved by the Department of Finance and Fine Gael, and the fact that the Labour Party were asleep on the progressive watch."
"The first sign of any economic recovery will be an increase in traffic on our roads. The second sign will be the immediate gridlock that will ensue because we failed to invest in the public transport alternatives that are needed for the whole transport system to work. It is all very well building a motorway between Gort and Tuam, but where is the public transport to make Galway City work? How are we going to continue attracting foreign direct investment when we don't have even the basic public transport infrastructure that competing countries are continuing to build?"
"This Government acts as if the fast growing digital and green economies simply don't exist. They have done nothing to support the innovative projects that came out of the http://www.yourcountryyourcall.com/ initiative. While our Government dithered, the UK and other countries took a step ahead and identified the same opportunities as their own. Innovative projects such as the http://www.greenifsc.ie and http://webactivate.ie/ have been allowed wither due to a lack of political support from the top. Such support doesn't require a lot of money and what is spent would go a long way to providing our people with skills they will need for the future," he continued.
"Retrofitting of buildings is one area where we could invest in construction and be certain of a financial return from the energy savings that would arise. Two years ago this new construction economy was thriving, but now it is in crisis. Thousands of workers are being laid off due to a lack of support. We do need to build new schools and medical centres, but the first thing we should have done with the additional funding was to make our existing buildings more comfortable and cheaper to run."
"Today's plan fails the basic test of preparing us for the future. By putting everything they have into more bitumen, bricks and mortar, the Ministers have come up with a Plan that their old contemporary, Padraig Flynn, would have been proud of," concluded Eamon Ryan.
ENDS
