'Resign' call as motion castigates McCreevy

The resignation of the Minister for Finance was demanded by the Opposition last night in heated Dáil exchanges.

Mr McCreevy's stewardship of the economy came under sustained attack as the debate on Fine Gael's motion of no confidence in him got under way. The House will vote on the motion when the debate concludes tonight.

The Fine Gael deputy leader, Mr Richard Bruton, said Mr McCreevy had to go because for two years in a row he had allowed spending to grow at ten times the rate of growth in tax revenue. "In just 22 months, spending has grown by almost 50 per cent. This reckless spending binge has totally exhausted a €4.8 million surplus built up by the Irish workforce. These were the reserves that should have helped cushion the present economic downturn."

The Minister was strongly defended by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the Tánaiste, Ms Harney, who sat beside him during the debate.

Mr Ahern accused Fine Gael of attempting to rewrite recent history. "It is an attempt to whitewash the fact that Fine Gael treated the General Election like an auction. They were prepared to auction off the family silver. They were prepared to take the brasses off the door, to take the door of the hinges and flog the lot."

No information was kept from the people prior to the election, said Mr Ahern. The Fianna Fáil election manifesto, he said, had stated clearly that the achievement of strong growth was dependent on renewed world growth and no adverse economic shocks.

Ms Harney said the Government's record, in terms of public finances, could not be better. "As we live through the transformation in this economy, some of us find it difficult to come to terms with what has happened. There are Irish people, returning to better jobs in Ireland today, than they had in the United States and Germany and so many other places."

Moving the no confidence motion, Mr Bruton said that this "buccaneering approach" had destroyed the most important element in the State's economic success - confidence.

"The Minister's failures will cost this economy jobs. Redundancies are already up by 46 per cent in the past 12 months and running at a rate of 500 per week. These are jobs we can ill afford to lose. In manufacturing, all of the job creation since 1997 is being lost in the space of a few months."

He said that at the start of 2001, with eyes firmly fixed on an election date, the Government's "Operation Bertie" rolled into action.

"Every problem was to have a solution - more money. Every hand was to be warmly shaken. No awkard question was to be asked. The priority was to create photo opportunities - grand openings, the hand over of bulky cheques, largesse for every sporting organisation and sports star.

"The formula was to spend lavishly and not to heed the cost." In next month's Budget, he said, the public would suffer the hangover of the Government's binge.

The Labour leader, Mr Pat Rabbitte, accused Mr McCreevy of cheating in last year's Budget for electoral purposes. In May, he added, the Minister had written to the then Fine Gael leader, Mr Michael Noonan, stating that there were no significant overruns projected and no cutbacks were being planned secretly or otherwise.

"This was as untrue at the time and today we know it was. Labour's view now is what it was during the election. Never has a government had so much and done so little while favouring so few - that few always being the rich and super-rich."