THE GOVERNMENT plan to transform the semi-State sector can create up to 100,000 jobs, according to Minister of State Fergus O’Dowd.
Announcing the establishment of company NewERA, which will be responsible for setting up utility and semi-State companies in the areas of energy, water provision, natural resources and telecommunications, Mr O’Dowd insisted that the plan could create 100,000 jobs over the next four years. The first 2,000 jobs would be created for the installation of water meters in Irish homes, he said.
NewERA was the central plank of Fine Gael’s manifesto for the general election. With an overall budget of €6.5 billion – a substantial portion of which would be raised from the sale of State assets – it was promised it would create some 105,000 jobs, half of them direct positions and the remainder spin-off jobs.
The plan provided for the establishment of a number of companies to provide utilities. These included a national water company, Irish Water; a company to manage the national energy network, Smart Grid; and Broadband 21, a company that would deliver high-speed broadband nationally.
The introduction of water meters was also envisaged, and the party made a commitment that half of Irish vehicles would be electric-powered by 2030. It also envisaged the merging of Coillte and Bord na Móna into a new bio-energy conglomeration.
However, the programme for government committed both parties in Government to raising only €2 billion from the sale of State assets.
Mr O’Dowd yesterday insisted the plan could still create 100,000 jobs.
A Government statement yesterday said NewERA would reform how government manages commercial semi-State companies such as the ESB, Bord Gáis, Coillte and Bord na Móna. It will also be involved in an advisory capacity in the disposal of State assets.
Dr Eileen Fitzpatrick from the National Treasury Management Agency has been appointed as director of NewERA.
The Government yesterday also announced it was launching what it described as a strategic investment fund. This will draw on funding from the National Pension Reserve Fund which it says will be channelled towards “productive investment in the Irish economy”.
This initiative reflects one of the key policy areas in the Labour manifesto for the election, which promised a strategic investment bank. The Government accepted yesterday that such a bank was not possible at the moment but contended the investment fund was its forerunner.
In the statement, Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin said he hoped money drawn from the pension fund would be matched by funding from financial markets and private concerns.
The nature of the projects for which the fund will be earmarked, the amount of money involved and the number of jobs that might be created were not specified.
The Government has already agreed to dispose of part of the ESB, and is examining further options up to a value of €2 billion. It is known that Fine Gael has pressed for more asset disposal, though such moves have been resisted by Labour.
A complicating factor is that the memorandum of understanding between the Government and the international “troika” states that money raised from the disposal of State assets must be used to reduce the sovereign debt.