The Irish government has launched proposals aimed at generating 300,000 new positions in the wake of the recession.

Unveiled by taoiseach Brian Cowen, the plans are intended to provide the country with a significant employment boost during the coming five years and establish a new Foreign Trade Council.

The integrated strategy covers trade, tourism and investment and sets a goal to increase exports by a third during the period in question.

Entitled Trading and Investing in a Smart Economy, it has been described by Mr Cowen as ensuring "a sharp focus across the entire government system" on issues such as generating roles, opening up new markets to businesses and improving the focus on commerce of overseas diplomatic missions.

It includes plans to create 150,000 direct positions in the manufacturing, tourism and internationally trading services industries, in addition to a further 150,000 spin-off jobs, boosting overseas visitor numbers to eight million and increasing foreign investment projects.

In remarks made at the launch of the strategy, the taoiseach stated that "we need new thinking about our country and her place in the world" in order to recover from the financial crisis.

Posted by Alex Donnell