IMF report 'a damning indictment' of Cowen's record

FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny claimed the IMF report was a “damning indictment’’ of Brian Cowen’s record as minister for finance.

“The report makes it clear that your failed policies have given Ireland the worst recession of any of the advanced economies,” said Mr Kenny. “Thousands of people have lost their jobs because you failed to do yours.”

The report’s executive summary could not have been clearer when it said that, given its serious internal imbalances, Ireland was especially vulnerable to the recent global shocks, he said.

Mr Kenny added: “The current Minister for Finance has certainly got the point. No sooner was the report out, but he was popping up on the media like some latter-day Pontius Pilate.

“Yes, he told the media, the economy was overheated . . . and then he slyly reminded everyone that he was not a member of the government at the time.’’

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said that while the IMF report was not gospel, it was the work of an influential international body.

He said that if the Government thought higher unemployment was the cost of saving the banking system and the public finances, it was wrong.

Labour, said Mr Gilmore, had argued for a State investment bank which would fund infrastructural development and also provide finance to do business.

“Of course, we must demonstrate that the public finances are on a path to sustainability, but we cannot ignore what is happening in the real economy,” he added.

“The construction sector, in particular, is in dire straits. Yet at the same time there is any number of infrastructural projects that could be carried out, which would yield a positive long-term return.’’

Labour, said Mr Gilmore, was also calling for a new national development plan to be drawn up, with innovative financing options to be examined.

Sinn Féin Dáil leader Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the economy had collapsed as a direct result of the policies pursued by the governments led by Bertie Ahern and Brian Cowen.

“The Taoiseach has yet to acknowledge that the very foundation of their economic policy was unsound, based as it was on a grossly inflated property market,’’ Mr Ó Caoláin added.

He said his party totally rejected the self-serving attempt by the Government to create some kind of collective national responsibility for a massive mess created by “conservative and corrupt politicians, bankers and property speculators”.