The Opposition has attacked the Government over its handling of the economy following the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) report on Ireland.
Fine Gael’s Finance Spokesman Richard Bruton said the report makes “grim reading” on a “self-inflicted economic disaster”.
He said the most depressing aspect of the report is that it “confirms” the economic recession is largely due to mistakes made by the Fianna Fáil Government.
Mr Bruton said: “Ireland now needs a firm plan with key milestones and timelines for tackling our lost competitiveness, much of which is the direct responsibility of Government.
“We must avoid making a bad situation worse by focusing the necessary adjustment in the public finances on tax increases as the Government has recently done – sharply diverging from the IMF’s own advice.”
Mr Bruton also called for “careful study” of the IMF’s assessment of the National Asset Management Agency.
Labour’s Joan Burton called the IMF and the OECD reports a “damning indictment” of the Government’s handling of the economy.
She said the Irish economy is declining more than any other advanced economy because the Government left the country “dangerously exposed” to the property sector.
Ms Burton also said the IMF’s call for a “temporary nationalisation” of the banks is “devastating” for the Government.
She said: ”While they acknowledge that NAMA is ‘potentially the right mechanism to separate the good from the bad assets’, they argue that ‘temporary nationalisation’ is the best way to make NAMA work, both in terms of pricing the assets fairly and restructuring the banking sector.
“This thinly veiled criticism of the Government approach is devastating given that their report was drafted in consultation with Irish officials,” she added.