Galway West Deputy Michael D Higgins has urged the Government to increase the national debt in order to invest much-needed funds into the flailing jobs market. Addressing the Tom Johnson Summer School on Sunday, the Labour President said that as Ireland's ratio of national debt to gross domestic product was quite low, the country was in a position to borrow, albeit it at a higher rate due to "the reputation damage done to Ireland by the likes of those in charge of Anglo Irish Bank".

Deputy Higgins said the funds should be used for a stimulus package to address the unemployment challenge in the country rather than making further contributions to the "black hole" that achieving banking stability represents.

"A recovered economy can create conditions for fiscal stability and ensure a transparent accountable banking system that serves citizens. The real economy and the security it serves must be given priority before it is too late, before a huge burden of toxic bank debt is dumped on future generations as well as present ones.

"Above all else, we must refuse to translate our unemployment levels into a form of forced inactivity. We cannot turn massive cyclical unemployment into long-term unemployment. We have therefore to examine a myriad of ways of creating opportunities for experience, placement, upskilling and retraining. We should also look at redesigning and redefining work, in terms of time and space. Looking also at work sharing. Our traditional approach to unemployment promises nothing more than increasing misery in an over-stretched bureaucratic setting," said Higgins.

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