FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has sharply rejected criticism of his party’s banking policy by former leader Alan Dukes, who said the plan was “very doubtful of success” and lacked the clarity of the Government proposal for a National Asset Management Agency (Nama).
“Alan Dukes is a public watchdog director of Anglo Irish Bank, which clearly would benefit from the Nama structure,” Mr Kenny told reporters at the start of a two-day “think-in” by the Fine Gael parliamentary party in Cavan.
Asked if he was implying Mr Dukes was making his argument because of his Anglo-Irish Bank position, he said: “I’m not implying any such thing, I’m merely saying that Alan is a public watchdog director on the board of a bank which has carried on in outrageous fashion in the past, which is the subject of a number of investigations, and obviously bankers want Nama to be put through because they stand to benefit from it.”
The comments by Mr Dukes on RTÉ Radio last Sunday came in the wake of an Irish Times column by another former Fine Gael leader, former taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald, who suggested that bringing down the Government over Nama would place the economy in the hands of the International Monetary Fund.
Commenting yesterday, Mr Kenny said: “Former leaders or other people associated with this party are perfectly entitled to have their view. I note lists of economists making their case for and against Nama; that’s perfectly normal.
“But my job is politics and politics is about people. And I choose to reflect my view for the protection of our economy and our taxpayer through the proposal that Fine Gael have put up.
“This proposal is defendable, carries with it very many merits in terms of those principles that I have espoused, and in my view Government have failed to recognise that.
“It is clear, of course, that the financial world and the Government and the banking situation have a clear interest in having the Nama-type proposal put through. Why wouldn’t they, when they expect to benefit greatly from it?”
Asked if there were any circumstances under which he could consider supporting Nama if the Minister made appropriate amendments, he said: “Fine Gael as a major political party, of which I am the leader, have set out our view for many months now on our proposed structure, which we feel is simpler, less costly to the economy and fairer in the interests of the taxpayer and business, and we’re perfectly entitled to have that viewpoint.”
Asked if he would be getting in touch with Mr Lenihan for talks on Nama, he said: “I would have thought that, when this crisis erupted in the first place, if a government were serious about dealing with the biggest financial crisis in 50 years, they should have called all the parties in, in the beginning, and said: ‘Do you have a view on this? These are the options that we are considering’.
“Instead of that they commissioned a report, they have one idea, one proposal and they shifted ground on a number of occasions in the last two months on that.”