Ireland's opposition criticise government's mid-term economic strategy

Ireland's opposition parties on Tuesday slammed the just launched mid-term economic strategy, saying that it was very "hollow". Sinn Fein's Pearse Doherty said the economic strategy appeared as an "early Christmas present" and that it was very "hollow and contained nothing but empty speculation" when unwrapped. He said the government should urgently seek retrospective recapitalization of the banks. Doherty said it should take debts "not belonging" to the ordinary people off their shoulders to start the economy again. Otherwise little will change, he said. Fianna Fail's Michael McGrath said the plan was "deeply disappointing." As Ireland exited the formal bailout program, this may have been a "missed opportunity," McGrath said. Meanwhile, non-governmental organization People Before Profit Alliance also said the plan was more of a "government hype." The organization's Richard Boyd Barrett said the plan will have little impact on alleviating the hardship people had been enduring and continue to endure. On Tuesday, the Irish government launched a medium-term economic strategy to set out economic growth until 2020. Under the strategy, Ireland's economic growth will reach 2 percent next year, 2.3 percent in 2015 and 2.8 percent in 2016. The strategy predicted growth rates of above 3 percent from 2017. The government document, named "A Strategy for Growth", said it will be 2018 before unemployment falls below 10 percent, adding that unemployment will be 8.1 percent in the year 2020. The strategy said the government will be running a balanced budget in 2018 and that the year will be the first year the government will be spending less then it will be taking in by way of taxes. On Sunday, Ireland wrapped up the three-year bailout in a landmark for the euro zone's efforts to resolve its debt crisis. It becomes the first bailed-out country in the eurozone to officially exit its international financial rescue program. Ireland was forced to turn to the EU and the IMF for the 85-billion euro (116 billion U.S. dollars) bailout in late 2010 after its banks collapsed and its property market bubble burst.