Fine Gael is the only party contesting the election with a strategy to grow business in order to create jobs, according to Minister for Enterprise and Jobs Richard Bruton.

Launching the Fine Gael jobs plan at the party’s election headquarters in Dublin, Mr Bruton said the target was to create 200,000 new jobs by 2020.

“The Opposition and the media scoffed at us when we set a target of creating 100,000 new jobs by 2016 and we have already reached the figure of 136,000 with most of the year to go.

“We are confident that the target of 200,000 by 2020 is a realistic one,” said the Minister.

“In the three years before the current Government came into office over 300,000 jobs were lost and unemployment reached a high of 15.2 per cent. Since the Government launched the Action Plan for Jobs in February 2012 more than 136 people are back to work and unemployment has dropped to 8.6 per cent,” he added.

He said Fine Gael would use the fiscal space available up to 2021 to create an additional €4 billion in total capital investment to improve the competitive edge of the economy over the five year period.

Mr Bruton said that keeping the competitive edge that had been developed over the past five years as the key to ensuring that there would be more exports, more innovation and more jobs.

He said that 45 per cent of the new jobs created over the past five years had come directly from exports and it was important that the moment be kept up to ensure that increased exports continued to drive the economy.

"Of the 136,000 extra people at work over 75 per cent are in recognised high paying sectors, 64,000 in IDA and Enterprise Ireland companies, 22,000 in construction and 18,000 in education and health.

“In the last two years all the extra jobs have been full time with the number employed part time falling,” said Mr Bruton.

Asked about Labour leader Joan Burton's promise to increase the minimum wage by €2 an hour in the lifetime of the next government if returned to office the Minister said everybody should be in a position to benefit if the economy continued to grow.

He said there was no contradiction between the drive for competitiveness and the Tanaiste’s ambition to increase the minimum wage.

Mr Bruton said the Government had set up the independent Low Pay Commission to ensure that workers benefited from the improving economy.