Cowen accused of wasting time with 'pointless' new taskforce
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TAOISEACH Brian Cowen has been accused of delaying crucial economic decisions by establishing another "pointless" taskforce.
The 21-member Innovation taskforce was set up in response to the 'Building Ireland's Smart Economy' plan launched six months ago and will take a further six months to report.
It is headed by Dermot McCarthy, the country's most senior civil servant, and also includes the heads of universities, entrepreneurs and founders of "green" businesses.
Criticised
But it has been criticised by the opposition parties as another attempt by Government to outsource its decisions at a time of record job losses.
Labour's enterprise spokes-man Willie Penrose said he was flabbergasted by the Government's announcement of another "pointless" taskforce.
"They will do anything to delay taking steps that are apparent to ordinary working people. What is the point of establishing a group that will not report for six months and whose recommendations won't be implemented for another three months?" he asked.
The Innovation taskforce's mission is to come up with recommendations to ensure that more "hi-tech" jobs are generated in multinational and Irish-owned companies -- and compensate for the loss of "low-tech" manufacturing jobs in factories like Dell in Limerick city.
But Mr Penrose said the world would not wait for the taskforce to produce its report -- with other countries working to build their own smart economies in the meantime.
"I think it's symptomatic of the malaise at the heart of this government," he added.
In announcing the taskforce, Mr Cowen said it would help restructure the economy so that it would be able to take advantage of the next wave of economic growth after the recession.
However, the Government has yet to announce details of how its €500m venture capital fund,promised for innovative companies in its smart economy plan, will operate.
- Michael Brennan
