Speaking at an economic seminar in Cork this weekend Joan said. “There will be no economic recovery in Ireland without a massive, targeted programme of job retention, job creation and work-based job training. Our government is blind to the simple reality that rescuing the banks will, of itself, do little to close the budget deficit.

Only a jobs intensive economic recovery will do that. However, the Fianna Fail – Green government remains obsessed with bailing out the broken banks at all costs.

Within the next two weeks, Irish taxpayers will be at last informed of the level of losses at Anglo Irish Bank for the 15 months to 31st December 2009. These mega losses are likely to be in the region of €10-14bn. At the same time, some €32bn worth of loans are expected to be transferred from Anglo to NAMA.

Once the accounts are published, and the loan transfers announced, the taxpayer will receive the really bad news – the sum of money Fianna Fail plan to pump into this zombie bank that has done no real new business since the state took it over. In the past year, the bank has already soaked up €4bn of taxpayers’ money. Coincidentally this exactly matches the entire €4bn package of budget cuts which saw social welfare and public service pay cuts just before Christmas.

The €4bn pumped into the bank last year has gone into an economic black hole, and the government has been unable to tell us whether their further recapitalisation will enjoy the same fate. By April Fool’s day, the government will have set out their 2010 bank recapitalisation programme. They will have told us how much more money they plan to heap on the Anglo bonfire this year. This number could be north of €6bn, bringing to €10bn or more the total amount lavished on this zombie bank that has, in effect, stopped lending.

This is ‘good money after bad’ gone mad! To put this in perspective, more than €5,000 will have been pumped into Anglo Irish Bank on behalf of every single taxpayer in the country in less than 12 months.

Imagine the positive impact on consumer confidence and our economy if every taxpayer was given a €5,000 tax credit to spend on Irish goods and services?

When countries across the globe are busy reflating their economies with fiscal stimulus, Ireland is soaking taxpayers to bailout its banks. What we do know is that everything Fianna Fáil has told us about the economic and banking crisis hast turned out to be far worse in reality. Our Ministers trot out mantras like they were the cast of Alice in Wonderland.

At the time of the bank guarantee the Minister for Finance told us that this would be the cheapest bank rescue in the world. Later, he boasted to the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis that Ireland would be the first country out of recession. And who could forget his continuous promises that the NAMA and bank recapitalisation would bring an end to the credit famine.

Fianna Fáil’s approach to the banks, from the time of the bank guarantee, has been an unmitigated disaster for the real economy. Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach, and Brian Cowen as Minister for Finance, had turned throwing money at problems into an art form. Taoiseach Cowen and Minister Lenihan are taking the same approach with the banks, and with our money. No cheque is too big to write, they say.

Far from having a coherent strategy, they have been making it up as they go along, running up a bill of tens of billions of euro to hand to this generation of taxpayers and the next.

While there are no limits to the lengths to which this government will go for the banks, the same is not true for the real economy and for families.

Where is the jobs plan?

Where is the investment that will stimulate the economy and give people hope?

The government is so focused on the banks that it has completely lost the plot on jobs. To paraphrase what former US President, Gerald Ford, once said to New York City: “Drop Dead”.

This is Fianna Fail’s message to the hundreds of thousands out of work for the first time. To the tens of thousands contemplating leaving their families behind to seek opportunities, they are saying: “Go ahead, this is no country for young men”.

To the many people whose dreams of a secure retirement have been shattered as their pension values crashed, Fianna Fail says: “Tough luck, you just have to work longer”. Endless cuts are not the answer. We need an honest, competent government with a vision for change, a mandate for action and a belief that Ireland can be better.

We need to give our young people hope that their economic future lies here, not on foreign shores. We need a radical economic programme that puts fairness first and puts people back to work. In stark contrast to our dysfunctional government, the Labour Party approach has been clear and consistent.

The Labour Party puts jobs before cuts, people before bank bondholders, investment before deflation. Central to Labour’s recovery programme is a dedicated jobs fund that prioritises work-based training, and internship opportunities for graduates and apprentices.

To stimulate investment, modernise our infrastructure and channel credit to SMEs, we propose the establishment of a Strategic Investment Bank funded from the National Pension Fund and from the existing capital budget.

In short, we need to invest in recovery, not bail out banks”.