A singular focus on developing the Smart economy will not tackle Galway’s jobs crisis and will exclude people from the workforce, Labour general election candidate Cllr Derek Nolan has warned.

Cllr Nolan says that a large and skilled construction workforce in Galway is frustrated at being unable to work and that the sector is continuing to experience employment freefall.

“CSO figures show that national construction output is down over 30% on 2010 and this has lead to further significant unemployment through contract conclusions and lay-offs. We need a strategy to create jobs in this sector where people are already highly skilled and qualified.

“A jobs strategy that looks purely to a Smart economy will ignore those who are not qualified to play a part in that economy. Neither is it possible that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be created in research and development for example. The Smart economy should be but one very important part of an overall jobs strategy. We need a tourism jobs strategy, a SME jobs strategy, a renewable energy strategy and so forth.

Ireland also needs a strategy for construction and economic stimulus. Labour has proposed a strategic investment bank to get people back to work in this area straight away, building the classrooms to replace school prefabs, building hospitals extensions and retrofitting homes. Every person on the dole costs the State €20,000. These people want to work. It is better to pay people to work and develop the economy than sit and watch their skills fade.

The unemployment crisis is too great to place our economic hopes on one sector. We need a broad based jobs strategy that values the skills and talents already in the workforce while developing and investing in new ones.

Plans to tackle the problem of housing refusals by local authority applicants are urgently needed according to Labour’s general election candidate Councillor Derek Nolan.

Problems with estate upkeep, management and anti-social behaviour have seen some local authority houses refused up to 7 times by prospective tenants.

Cllr Nolan who is Chair of the City’s Housing Committee has called for urgent action on the issue in the New Year.

“Housing applicants are waiting anything up to 10 years for a local authority house, so they do not refuse them lightly. We have some houses being refused up to 7 times and this is totally unacceptable. It is often the case that the house itself is not the issue, but the behaviour of a specific neighbour, the upkeep of the estate or wider anti social behaviour. The Council has accepted that these are real issues in a minority of Council estates. Now we need to put in place a strategy to deal with this problem once and for all.

My committee passed a strict anti-social behaviour policy last October which established tough penalties for anti social behaviour. But the issue is broader than that – it includes involving all Council departments from Roads and Parks to Housing and Community. In my view the strategy must create a benchmark below which no estate may fall, and this benchmark should cover all the relevant concerns.”

The Housing Committee will begin work on the strategy in January.

A controversial decision on whether or not to give away 21 acres of City Council-owned land to the governments “Land Aggregation Scheme” has been deferred for 2 years. The scheme would see the City Council’s housing landbank reduced by over 60%, but would see the Council’s loan liability for the lands written off.

Cllr Derek Nolan, who proposed the deferral on behalf of the Labour Party said it made sense to hold on to the land as long as possible.

“With 4,000 applicants, the City Council housing list is at an all time high. This land bank is badly needed if we are to begin to tackle the problem. Our housing land bank as its stands is insufficient. We need every acre.

Interest on these loans will not be payable by the Council until 2013 at the earliest. That means we have 2 years to find funding to develop the land. Hopefully, a new government will use housing provision as a way of tackling the waiting list, and putting people back to work.

The deferral makes sense. It saves the land bank, gives us time to source funding for building on it, and will not cost the Council anything.

I am calling on the government to change its stance on housing and divert current funding for housing leasing into housing construction.”

Labour general election candidate Cllr Derek Nolan has slammed city retailers who are opening on St. Stephen’s Day. Cllr Nolan said the move was unfair to staff and their families and invaded personal time.

“I worked in retail for many years. Christmas is very tough and tiring, normally involving several 12 hour shifts in the final days to Christmas eve. Most staff are expected back on the 27th. The actions of the chain retailers in opening on St. Stephen’s Day will put great strain on staff, a lot of whom will now have only 1 day off.

It is also unfair to retailers who wish to remain closed. Opening on St Stephen’s Day forces other retailers to open for fear of losing out on vital business to competitors. What is achieved by opening a day earlier is minimal – merely spreading the business over a greater period. But what is lost in terms of personal and family time for staff is immeasurable.

There is talk of new post-Celtic Tiger values where consumption for its own sake has lesser priority. The retailers forcing this charge haven’t learned that lesson. They really do know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

A motion by Cllr Derek Nolan and the Labour Party to invite released Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi to Galway was passed at Galway City Council’s meeting on Monday night.

Ms Suu Kyi was conferred as a Freeman of Galway in 2005 while under house arrest in Burma. As a result she never received the honour personally.

“This situation needs to be remedied. Our motion calls on the Department of Foreign Affairs to invite Ms. Suu Kyi to Ireland so that she can at last, accept this honour

Aung San Suu Kyi has been a global icon of heroic and peaceful resistance in the face of military repression, and she takes her rightful place in history amongst other great civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Mahatma Ghandi who I know inspired her.

I hope that at some time she will be able to accept our invitation.”