'A key figure in shaping the modern Irish economy'

BUSINESS COMMUNITY:MEMBERS OF the business community and leading economists have paid tribute to former taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Dr Garret FitzGerald.

The Governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan said Dr FitzGerald “was a real inspiration” to him over four decades, “especially in the years when he was taoiseach and coping with the challenges of the public finances in the 1980s.

“He had a practical, fact-driven approach to economic policy. But he never lost sight of the people behind the statistics . . . and always had a very 1960s kind of genuine concern for the welfare of the disadvantaged in society.”

Prof Frances Ruane, director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said Dr FitzGerald’s “enormous contributions to our understanding of the Irish economy over five decades reflected his passionate interest in economic issues, his commitment to improving policy decisions and his phenomenal command of statistical detail”.

Chambers Ireland chief executive Ian Talbot said Dr FitzGerald’s work helped to pave the way for the historic events taking place in Ireland this week.

“As taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald played a vital role in negotiating the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement, one of the foundations of peace and partnership politics on the island of Ireland,” Mr Talbot said.

Danny McCoy, director general of employers’ group Ibec , said Dr FitzGerald will be remembered as a key figure in shaping the modern Irish economy and its relationship with Europe.

“Long after his retirement he worked tirelessly during successive referendum campaigns to ensure that Ireland remained fully engaged and at the very heart of the European Union,” Mr McCoy said.

Brendan Walsh, professor emeritus at University College Dublin, said Dr FitzGerald’s contributions to economics were “firmly grounded in his passionate interest in the development of the Irish economy”.

“In the fullness of time – and especially since the onset of the current crisis in the national economy – his concern with close-at-hand empirical issues may be regarded as prescient,” he said.

“His economic commentaries in this newspaper grew in breadth and depth over the years and his contributions to the discussions of our current predicament brought much-needed balance to the debate.”

Outside his interest in economics, Prof Walsh pointed to “lesser known, but academically more impressive” papers on the decline of the Irish language in the 18th and 19th centuries published by the Royal Irish Academy in 1984 and 2003.

Aer Lingus said Dr FitzGerald played a significant role in the development of the airline’s route structure in the 1940s and 1950s.

“Without any of the modern day analysis tools, Dr FitzGerald brought his keen economic mind to bear on how to best plan and utilise aircraft, laying the foundations for the future success of the airline in this important area,” it said.