Republic faces ‘tough’ budget calls, warns Cowen

By Aine Kerr
Monday, 13 October 2008

Irish Republic braced for tough times ahead

Bookmark & Share

Brian Cowen, has signalled that "tough decisions" will be taken in tomorrow's crunch Irish Budget in an effort to reignite the Republic’s failing economy.

Insisting that the Government would not shy away from making unpopular decisions and implementing short-term sacrifices, Mr Cowen said Ireland was now engulfed in the "greatest economic crisis to face the world in over a generation".

He said: “Clearly, there are decisions we will have to take which we would rather it were not necessary to have to take but they have to be taken.

"This won't be fixed overnight. This is an issue that has to be resolved over time with the right policy positions being taken and we can try and maintain public services to the greatest extent possible."

Given the extent of the economic downturn, the former Irish Finance Minister said families and businesses were now making the necessary arrangements to deal with the current financial realities.

"We all have to recognise that the situation has changed,” he said.

“Let's not underestimate our capacity to deal with this issue either. Our own people have shown a tremendous capacity to deal with adversity in the past.

"We've had many years of unprecedented and unparalleled and continuous growth.

“That is not in prospect in the immediate period ahead. We have to adjust our arrangements accordingly but keep making the right strategic decisions."

In a wide-ranging address before ministers and Fianna Fail members at the annual Wolfe Tone commemoration at Bodenstown in Co Kildare, Mr Cowen said the prevailing question for the Government was whether it should act in the long-term interests of the country, even if this meant taking tough and unpopular decisions.

"Or will we take the soft option of focusing merely on the short-term and thereby avoid hard decisions in the hope that problems will simply disappear?" he asked.

Mr Cowen said history showed the only way to deliver long-term economic and social improvements was to do whatever is required to ensure economic and fiscal stability.

"I don't believe that the Irish people would want us to shy away from the difficult decisions we must now make," he added. “We will make the necessary tough choices so that we can chart a course for economic renewal to bring us beyond the current short-term difficulties towards a stable long-term growth rate."

The Taoiseach further insisted that the best way for Ireland to prosper economically and socially was within the European Union. Membership of the eurozone had provided Ireland with "significant advantages", he said.

Post a comment

Limit: 500 characters

View all comments that have been posted about this article

Comment Comment text:

Your details

* Name (only this field displayed)

* Email

* Town/City

* Country/State

* Required field

Remember Me

Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP address logged and may be used to prevent further submissions. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by BelfastTelegraph.co.uk's Terms of Use.

Posts submitted in UPPERCASE letters will be rejected.

Why is it always quoted "The Irish People" instead of People living in Ireland, as it's not only Irish People living here but people from many other Races as well. Come on get your facts right for all of us.

Posted by Dave | 14.10.08, 18:28 GMT

The fact that membership of the European Union is mentioned is like the Chairman of a Foolball Club saying he has every faith in the manager. The unfortunate manager has gone in fact.The Prime Minister saying he has every faith in a minister means the resignation is on the Prime Minister's desk.There could well be plans to take us out of EU and into Efta.

Posted by Anthony | 13.10.08, 20:54 GMT

We bail the banks out with public funds, and when there is a rate cut, its not passed on to the consumer. Double Standards.

Posted by Derek | 13.10.08, 19:34 GMT

tomorrows budget will have little or no affect on those who earn 70k+ it will be the working class who are going to fall victim, middle income earners are already stretched, tomorrow it can only get worse, Mr Cowen should start at the top and work down,and not from the bottom up.

Paul (middle income earner)

Posted by Paul rooney | 13.10.08, 18:02 GMT

I completely agree with Anthony. Keep in mind that these people also wanted a raise for their "troubles" quite recently. The cost of living in Ireland is spiralling upwards and as usual, it's going to be the people who will have to suffer the burden.

Posted by Ciaran Elliot | 13.10.08, 15:46 GMT

Cowen should call a general election. He was the person in charge of economic policy for the last 5 years and we are in this mess mainly because he lacked both the experience and the foresight to deal with the emerging problems. Many, many commentators, from Ireland and abroad, were warning him and Ahern, and these concerned analysts were dismissed as naysayers by all in Fianna Fail, in order to protect their developer friends.
Cowen is not the man to deal with the downturn and he can expect no succour from Fine Gael, whose former leader, Alan Dukes, was pilloried for the invaluable service he gave to Ireland (and Fianna Fail) during the last crisis in 1987/8.
Fianna Fail have gotten us into this morass and they can now go and stew. They are a party of populism and soft options but are now faced with paying the piper, now that the party is over.
The sooner they are exposed as the swallow tail coat sleeveens and gombeens that they are, the better.

Posted by mick | 13.10.08, 14:15 GMT

Very easy for Brian Cowen and other ministers to talk about hard and unpopular decisions to be made, it will not affect them one bit. If I had a salary of €100 thousand per year, I would be embarrassed to ask the country to suffer until the economy picks up again.

Anthony

Posted by Anthony | 13.10.08, 12:20 GMT