In light of the unemployment figures released today, Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton, TD, has said Ireland needs to do everything possible to create opportunities for our brightest people so they won’t leave the country.
He is in on a week-long trade mission to the US, meeting some of the world’s largest IT companies in an attempt to secure new investment and employment for Ireland.
“The decline in the unemployment rate from 14.8pc in the last quarter of 2010 to 14pc in the first quarter of 2011 is to be welcomed, but today’s figures remind us once again the scale of the unemployment challenge facing a new Government,” he said.
“Emigration is now draining our country and our economy of some of our best and brightest people and we must do everything we can to create opportunities for them to stay here and contribute to our recovery. That was one of the key focuses of the recent Jobs Initiative.
“It took many years of misguided policies to get our country into the jobs crisis we face now and it will take a number of years of the right policies to get us out of it. That is why there isn’t a moment to lose in driving on with the reforms and policy changes needed to help turn our shared fortunes around.”
Photo: Richard Bruton, TD
