IRELAND NEEDS a national plan for recovery to restore economic confidence and credibility, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said yesterday.
After a five-hour meeting of the parliamentary party at Leinster House yesterday, Mr Gilmore said Labour had decided to move the writ for the Dublin South byelection in the coming weeks for the election to be held. The party’s candidate is Senator Alex White.
On the crisis in the economy, Mr Gilmore said that President Barack Obama had identified the top three priorities for the new US administration as “jobs, jobs and jobs”.
“The same priority needs to be attached to the unemployment crisis in this country,” he said.
Asked if the national recovery plan required a national government, he replied: “It may require a change of government. People talking about a national government, it’s another way of saying that they have no confidence in the present government and that it should be changed.”
Calling for a general election, Mr Gilmore said: “The people of the country need to be given the opportunity as soon as possible to decide who should be running the country; whether that results in a national government or not, that’s another day’s work.”
Asked if Labour would be going into coalition with Fianna Fáil after the next election, he replied: “No, I don’t think we will be, I think you can make that as a prediction.”
On the economy, the Labour leader said: “We need a fast action programme to prioritise key National Development Plan projects that are capable of providing urgently needed employment.
“This would bring forward projects where, for instance, planning permission has been granted or for which preparatory work has been done.”
In addition, local authorities and agencies should be asked to produce stimulus plans for their areas. “There are many half-finished projects around the country that would provide valuable employment if they can be revived.”
The parliamentary party discussed preparations for the forthcoming Dáil session and the summer’s local and European elections.
Mr Gilmore told the meeting there could be no question of a “business as usual” approach either to politics or economics.
He said in a statement afterwards that Labour would be asking the Government to provide the Dáil with the time for “a comprehensive debate on all aspects of the economic crisis” when the House resumed next week.
“We are concerned that the Government lacks a clear strategy in respect of the banking system and particularly the protection of our largest banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, which are vital to jobs and business throughout the country.”
Anglo Irish was now a State-owned bank. “We need to examine in what way the bank and the assets it may now possess can be used for the public good.
“There may, for instance, be valuable sites over which the bank now has a charge. We need an audit of these to establish which could be used for industrial development or other projects.”
Labour would continue to press for the appointment of an inspector to establish the “full picture” of what went on in Anglo Irish Bank. “We will not be party to any attempt to draw a veil of secrecy over the immoral and improper practices that led to the nationalisation of the bank,” Mr Gilmore said.
He added: “There can be no question of the people, who were responsible for what happened in that bank, now walking off into the sunset or, even worse, walking into the sunset and pocketing as a result of a State guarantee the monies that they were playing with.”