IT WASN’T only what he said but the conviction with which he said it. Taoiseach Brian Cowen came into his own in his address to the annual dinner of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce on Thursday night when, unscripted, he demonstrated his grasp of the problems facing this State over the next couple of years and exhorted the whole electorate, not just the business community and the trade unions, to share the burden of adjustment in moving from a position of “unknown prosperity to suddenly the survival stakes”. He made his best speech since he entered office and gave the impression, for the first time, that he may be leadership material after all.
“I don’t believe in writing a script or looking down for the evening. I want to look everyone in the eye and say a few things,” he said, as he launched into his remarks. Most media comment, however, will come from the journalists who were told that there would be no script so they wouldn’t be there; the Government advisers who didn’t know that he would make a significant speech; and the radio phone-ins questioning why he chose the Dublin Chamber of Commerce in the opulent Four Seasons Hotel as the occasion for what was really a state of the nation address. These side issues will claim the media agenda over the weekend.
Mr Cowen had nothing particularly newsworthy to say to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. What was noteworthy about his address, however, was that, for the first time as Taoiseach, he gave a sense that he was on top of the problems facing this country and that he had a vision, right or wrong, for how we could collectively overcome them.
He gave an overall perspective on the problems confronting the Government and the country at this particular time. He suggested there were many people who were finding it difficult “to stay in the game as things stand, that we have gone from a position of unknown prosperity to suddenly the survival stakes”.
That turnaround and the need for the system to quickly flip into a changed gear was what was required. There will be much analysis as to why he suggested that the landing point would be a drop of 10 per cent to 12 per cent in living standards over the next couple of years “in the perspective of a country that has increased its wealth over the last 10 years by 70 per cent and 80 per cent”.
Probably the most important thing that Mr Cowen had to say was that the only way we will get over the current challenge is by “trying to display a sense of fairness and solidarity”. Those who are most able to bear it, he said, will have to carry a heavier burden. This should be his invitation to invite the trade unions back into discussions. He was adamant also that our economic and political destiny is lined up with membership of the European Union.
If this speech was from the heart, Mr Cowen must follow it promptly with obvious actions on the Lisbon referendum, fair pain for all sectors of the economy and engagement with the Opposition parties.