INVESTMENT:A GLOBAL innovation hub would deliver high-quality employment that would be both sustainable and competitive, Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said yesterday.
Mr Martin said the idea of making Ireland an innovation hub was not an empty phrase. It was “achievable with the right policies” and could deliver high-quality employment that would be sustainable and competitive.
“There must be clear and achievable goals to make Ireland the best place in Europe to turn research and knowledge into jobs, products and services; the best place in Europe to start and grow an innovative company; the best place to relocate or expand and scale an SME; and the best place in Europe for research-intensive multinationals to collaborate with each other and with clusters of small companies.
“When it comes to attracting multimillion investments to this country, as well as helping Irish companies to establish and grow, investment in ideas and people is the biggest competitive edge we have,” Mr Martin said.
He accused rival parties in the election of presenting “soft-option solutions”.
“In our manifesto Fianna Fáil commits our party to learning the lessons of the past. We need to accept that the old ways of doing things no longer work. So hand in glove with working to restore stability to our public finances, we are working to restructure our economy to make it sustainable and to prepare for the next wave of economic growth.”
Mr Martin said: “There is no such thing as a high-income economy which fails to invest in science, technology and innovation.”
Ireland needed a competitive edge to “exploit the opportunities in key areas, especially life sciences, software and green enterprise”.