Ireland will beat the global recession and is already making “real progress”, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said tonight.
Speaking at a Fianna Fáil election rally in Slane, Co Meath, Mr Cowen hit out at “the bad news brigade” and the Opposition, who he said “offer little in terms of solutions, but specialise in pointing the finger.”
“I understand that and I want to explain to you tonight that we are making real progress, and that we have a way out that is working,” Mr Cowen said.
“And it’s not just me or my Fianna Fáil colleagues who are saying that. The ESRI and other commentators are now predicting that the decisions taken by the Government, allied with the flexibility of our economy and our people in reacting to the crisis, means that we are positioned to return to growth, even rapid growth, as the world economy turns, as early as next year.”
He said nobody saw the “size and depth” of the economic crisis in including the main opposition parties in the Dáil.
“Their hindsight may be clear now, but they were not so sharp eyed when the crisis was only around the corner,” the Taoiseach added.
Mr Cowen said Ireland would “beat the global recession. “While painful, the tough decisions we are taking are beginning to work. And I am confident that our plans will work, not just because they are the tough decisions, but because they are they are the right decisions. We still have a hard road ahead, but we are on the right road and together we will get there.”
Mr Cowen said economic recovery was based on four pillars:
Addressing the banking to restore credibility and confidence and to get credit flowing; tackling the gap in public finances by increasing revenue and cutting spending; protecting as many jobs as possible; and investing in the unemployed so they can return to employment as soon as possible.
The Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny dismissed the Taoiseach's speech this evening saying Mr Cowen had no new ideas or plans to get the country back to work.
"It's more of the same in Slane. Not one extra person will get a job as a result of the Taoiseach's speech
tonight. There are no new ideas and no new plans to get the country back to work. The speech was long on attack and rehash, but short on new thinking and any new vision for the country," he said.
“At a time when the country is looking for hope and a new vision of where we are going as a country it is disappointing that the Taoiseach passed up another opportunity to say something new. Waiting and hoping for the economy to recover is not enough. Taxing our way back to prosperity will not happen. We need to get our people back to work as soon as possible and do everything we can to help rather than hinder our growth prospects," he added.
"The content of the speech in Slane tonight just confirms to me that this Taoiseach and this Government have run out of steam and run out of ideas. June the 5th marks the date of the beginning that much
needed change."
Labour deputy leader Joan Burton called the Taoiseach's speech "pathetic."
"I can understand why, like a First World War General, the Taoiseach has to rally his troops for one last heroic effort before the peoples' verdict on June 5th. Alas for him his speech tonight was quite a pathetic effort," she said.
"Every action of Mr Cowen's Ministers has made a difficult situation worse. Like every citizen I would love to see some green shoots of economic recovery. So would the tens of thousands of our people who face the dole
queues. But he is doing nothing to coax those green shoots."
"Labour has offered some immediate practical measures that could improve the situation for apprentices and for new graduates by offering internship opportunities as a short -term alternative to unemployment," she said.
"There is one basic question that Brian Cowen didn't answer and can't answer. How can a Taoiseach who, as Minister for Finance, caused many of our problems lead the country to recovery?"
"It is simply not possible and the people of Ireland will confirm that next month," she added.