Taoiseach Brian Cowen has accused Fine Gael of “playing politics” with the current economic crisis and said he believed the Irish people would ultimately side with “responsible government over opportunistic opposition”.
Addressing the Fianna Fáil national councillors’ forum annual conference in Tullamore, Co Offaly, Mr Cowen warned the economy would perform at its worst this year for “many decades” due to the international economic downturn.
He warned there was “no simple answer” to the crisis and defended the Government’s handling of the economy.
“We have all heard the spurious argument that we blew the boom but the reality is up to this year, when the Irish economy was growing year on year, we saw hundreds of thousands of jobs created,” Mr Cowen said.
“We used that money to reform our income tax system, reduce tax on workers and businesses and invested heavily to address the historic under-investment in the past by providing better public services in health, in education and in social welfare and also investing in capital infrastructure to build up the country and meet the demands of a growing economy.”
Mr Cowen said the actions being taken by the Government now would determine the future direction of the nation, and whether “we can protect as much as possible the progress of the past or whether we fall backwards without prospect of recovery”.
“We are confronting the worst international economic situation for many decades. Because of the work done to pay down our national debt, increase reserves and invest in both skills and infrastructure, Ireland has a strong basis for coming through this crisis,” Mr Cowen said.
“At bottom line, the Irish people are this county’s greatest resource and they will be the reason why our economy will rebound.”
The Taoiseach said any opposition politician who claimed the road to recovery wouldn’t involve tough action was “being disingenuous at best and dishonest at worst”.
“There is a serious debate to be had about which actions are required, but it is nothing less than deeply cynical posturing to oppose every single action without proposing a serious alternative. And that is just the game our opponents have chosen to play,” he said.
Mr Cowen said the Fine Gael party had, at its national conference in Wexford last weekend, once again announced its “imminent assumption of office”.
“We have heard their boasts about new shoes for the Áras before. They talked a lot about responsibility but look a little bit closer and you find that their talk was a mile wide but the substance was an inch deep.
“As is now Fine Gael’s basic tactic, their priority in this crisis has not been policy it has been playing politics.”
On Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s stand that the Opposition party would not repeat the Tallaght Strategy of the 1980s, he said: “In other words, Fine Gael has no intention of supporting government proposals even if they accept that they are needed to address a serious national crisis. For them, playing politics in the same old predictable way is what is important.”
Mr Cowen said Fine Gael had also attacked the Government for its Budget “for spending too much while also demanding that we stop increasing taxes and refrain from all the spending cuts”.
“The words ‘pay freeze’ have been trotted out to try and convince people that they have an alternative. Of course what they haven’t mentioned is that there is a substantial gap between the budget figure they demand and the policies they are willing to support.”
Mr Cowen said he accepted the Budget this year was "not popular" and that the Government did not get everything right.
"But people also have to recognise that there is no easy or painless way to restore balance to the public finances in perilous global economic times.
"Despite the resolute action taken in Budget 2009, day to day expenditure, most of which is on social welfare and pay, will exceed our revenue by €4.7 billion next year - that is over €1,000 for every man, woman and child.
"The repayment of this will be the first expenditure of future governments before the pay for the services of the future. In addition, every additional teacher, doctor and public servant employed above current levels must be paid for by borrowing," he said.
He also warned councillors that Fianna Fail candidates in the local elections next year would face “a relentless wave of attacks from people attacking every spending cut and promising a painless illusory alternative”.
"As we move towards an election year it is natural that people will become increasingly focused on the party’s standing. But just as we saw in the last general election, in Ireland polls can change faster than the weather," Mr Cowen said.
He said the campaign had to be "about straight talking".
"We will be entering into the local elections in far from ideal economic circumstances. Resources will be scarcer than they have been for a long time. How we deal with this situation will define the economic direction of our nation for many years to come. It is a challenge we must confront."