Cowen faces Dáil fire over poor Exchequer figures
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen came under further attack this morning over the state of the Irish economy.
During rowdy scenes in the Dáil, Cowen faced a barrage of opposition attacks that not enough was being done to plug the hole in the state coffers.
Exchequer returns have revealed the state is €7.8bn in the red, with tax receipts for November alone €3bn below target.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said the Government had no plan to pull the country out of the economic downturn.
“We now find ourselves in the middle of an economic swamp led there by the most disastrous government of the last 40 years,” he said.
“Confidence is gone from the economy and there isn’t either any coherence, strategy or plan to get the country out of this.”
Mr Kenny called on the Government to look again at the national pay deal and to bin the decision to increase VAT, which he said was having a devastating effect on border counties.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore rowed in behind the Fine Gael chief claiming the Government had been acting like bewildered bystanders.
“You’re behaving and have been behaving for the past number of months like bewildered bystanders instead of providing the courage and conviction... and leadership that the people of this country expect to see,” Mr Gilmore said.
But Mr Cowen robustly defended himself against the opposition claims, insisting the Government does have a strategy.
He pointed to the Cabinet’s decision to hold an early budget, the bank recapitalisation scheme and plans to cut spending across Government departments next year.
The Taoiseach signalled the Government would not be increasing taxes to stabilise the worsening finances.
“We don’t react to that position by adding taxes to the economy at this point,” he said.
He also hit out at Fine Gael’s claims to revisit the national pay deal, claiming social partnership was the key to pulling the country out of the economic slump.
“The plan for economic renewal will be on the basis of social partnership,” he said. “We will work with the social partners.”
He added the Government was in the process of bringing forward further ideas and strategies to help boost economic growth.
