Do FF and SF not believe in full employment?

Earlier today Labour launched a comprehensive plan to ensure there is a job for everyone who wants one by 2018.

The plan is built on investing in people, helping companies access the funding they need to grow, investing in innovation and providing better supports for start-ups.

It is astonishing that Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have not set a target for reaching full employment. People can clearly take from this that Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin do not see creating jobs as a priority.

After all it was Fianna Fáil who caused 250,000 people to lose their jobs, yet they have no plan to reach full employment. Sinn Fein pretends they’re a party for working people yet they do not seem to want to achieve full employment.

The relentless focus for Labour in government has been creating good quality jobs that pay a decent wage and we have a proven track record of delivery.

When we entered government in 2011 unemployment stood at 15.2% it is now down to a record seven year low of 8.6%. Over 135,000 jobs have been created since we entered government. 1,100 jobs are being delivered each week.

We have made sure work pays by increasing the minimum wage by 20% which has put an extra €3000 per year in the pockets of low paid workers. We will continue to increase the minimum wage progressively to a living wage over the lifetime of the next government.

Only Labour has a plan to continue the work of delivering jobs and reaching full employment by 2018.