Lenihan praises report but Ictu angry at claim

WRIGHT REPORT REACTION: MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan has welcomed the Wright report as a "very fair and thoughtful assessment" of the Department of Finance's performance over the past decade.

However, the Irish Congress of Trade Unions reacted angrily to the report’s finding that social partnership played a key role in increasing spending and “overwhelming” the budget process.

Ictu’s general secretary David Begg described the report’s ascribing of blame to the social partnership process for the economic crisis as “a facile exercise in scapegoating, designed to obscure the true cause of the collapse: banks, builders and toxic government policy”.

Mr Begg said the Fianna Fáil-PD government which came to power in 1997 was “hell-bent” on deregulation and cutting taxes for the wealthy. Its philosophy was set out by then tánaiste Mary Harney in her “Berlin vs Boston” speech in 2000, he said.

“Anyone wanting to trace the roots of this crisis only has to read Minister Harney’s speech. The cumulative effect of those policies was to entirely erode the country’s tax base and inflate the boom.”

Within the social partnership process, Congress was a lone voice opposing this economic philosophy, he said, yet it never received support from the department.

Sinn Féin said yesterday the report showed radical change was needed in the government approach to budget formulation.

“Had reports or briefings been given to Opposition parties like Sinn Féin, the current crisis could have been avoided,” finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said. He called on the new government to ensure that Opposition parties were briefed in future.

The Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants claimed the report vindicated the advice given and decisions taken by its members in the department.

“This report clearly states that the actions of politicians, rather than civil servants, were the primary factors behind the crisis,” said general secretary David Thomas.

He said politicians adopting short-term policies ignored repeated warnings of an impending downturn and failed to respond appropriately when it hit.

Mr Thomas said his members were scapegoated by some for the economic collapse, but the report showed they were not to blame.

Mr Lenihan said many of the recommendations relating to departmental organisation and work practices could be implemented immediately, but others were matters for the new government.

He said he had no doubt the department would address the issues highlighted in the report. He said he published the report this week to allow the incoming government to consider its recommendations and make decisions on which policies to implement.