Taoiseach Enda Kenny at IBEC’s President’s Dinner in the RDS last night
Oh yes.
We’re IBEC baby.
There can be no doubt that we’re in a new phase in Ireland. Even in the room tonight there’s a deeper optimism. Across business people are starting to breathe again the belief is coming back…
For all of you, for Ireland the future was uncertain. But as a nation we did what we’re good at. We faced up to the challenges head on. Painful as it was, we knew what we had to do to bring Ireland back from the brink. This Government, together with the people, implemented a recovery plan to bring us to where we are today.
Together, we restored our international reputation. Together, we supported the changes to help create 125,000 extra jobs since 2012. Together, we made Ireland Europe’s fastest growing economy. Today, we are witnessing the fruits of that recovery. The long-term goal of reducing the deficit to under 3% of GDP will be achieved this year. Given the very strong increases in growth it’s likely we’ll see our debt-to-GDP ratio fall below 100 per cent by the end of this year. Our recovering economy is fuelling a surge in tax revenue. In fact, after the first eight months of 2015, tax revenues are almost 10% higher on the same period last year.
This is an important time in our recovery. Some people will look at these figures and shudder thinking ‘Oh god, here we go back to the political burlesque of ‘Showtime’. The bravado of “If I have it, I’ll spend it.”
Except they can relax that’s not going to happen. With this government we are never going back to boom and bust. We are never going back to auction politics that actually sold off nothing except public trust and faith in politicians.
[Later]
…It is clear to everyone that there are many paths to choose from in the coming years. Despite what some might lead you to believe, stability, economic growth, and job creation don’t just happen by chance. Choices have consequences. The upcoming General Election will ask the people of Ireland which choice they want to make, the path they will choose. Our approach will be crystal clear. We will prioritise measures that help create more jobs and make work pay.
Given the ordeal the Irish people have endured during the downturn, they deserve to know what exactly the disparate groupings hoping for Government are proposing for the next 5 years. It’s not good enough to tell people what you’re against. You need to tell people what you’re for and how you intend to get there. I am confident that when the people examine the options before them that they will choose stability, progress and securing the recovery over ones that have ruined the economy or those that would ruin it.
But in the next Government we need to be more radical and do a lot more to provide large sections of Irish society the opportunity to access the world of work. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past where the long term unemployed miss out on the chance to support themselves and their families in a recovering economy.
The past few years have been difficult for our country. The emerging recovery has been hard won – thanks to you. The opportunity is there now to secure it.
The Government that I lead has a plan to do just that. There will be no going back to boom and bust – bad business as usual. We must go on and improve and finish what we started. To create jobs for our people, to create a strong economy that can support our vital public services, and to come out of this dark period even stronger than ever.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny speaking last night at IBEC’s President’s Dinner in the RDS, Dublin.
Any excuse
Transcript Via Merrion Street
Of course there’ll be boom and bust. Does anyone seriously believe anything has changed or that lessons have been learned? See you in the next recession, Enda, because there will always be a next recession.
They’ve worked very hard and made very difficult decisions to restore the country to EXACTLY the same footing, wealth distribution, economic focus and outlook, banking hegemony and sleeveenism as prevailed in the mid noughties.
The had the mandate to take us anywhere, but they’re just rebuilding the dodgy old house.
Tbf, I thinbk his basic point (and I am leaping a little bit here) is that:
1) He isn’t going to inflate a boom in the same reckless manner as his predecessors (and this point is clearly arguable).
2) We should be better prepared to deal with the consequences of a cyclical downturn in property since we will have a more diverse set of revenue streams for govt/public services (property tax, water charges) rather than relying on construction receipts.
That’s what Gordon Brown said. We all know how that ended.
‘Going back’ refers to something that has happened in the past, obviously, we are now in the middle of Bubble 2.0, now reaching stupid level pricing of houses – JUST LOOK AT THE PROPERTY SUPPLEMENTS! banks talk up the ‘market’ to claw back losses accrued in Bubble 1.0 and then dump, the old pump n’ dump.
No boom and bust, but we will interfere with the central banks efforts to limit a property bubble, then blame them for lack of regulation and we will give pay rises when ever unions ask, but we won’t buy votes.
€100 water grant has nothing to do with buying votes.. it just makes complete sense to give people a grant regardless if they have paid for water or not..
We’ll see what kind of vote buying goes on when the patchwork coalition needs to appease 40 independents..
As an open economy this recovery was going to happen not because of measures this government took but because our two main export markets recovered, the UK and USA. Blatant electioneering which incidentally was being tweeted by Merrion street .ie which is the government news service. That is what any opposition is up against.
No boom and bust – really?
Just as Michael Noonan refers to “easing” the new deposit requirements for first-time buyers following lobbying by the Construction Industry Federation about the purchase price of “starter homes” being put of the reach of these buyers. Translation: the CIF want to build low-grade, low-quality “starter homes” which no doubt in Dublin will equate with being well-beyond the M50 with minimal public transport options but they also want a handsome return on their investment (high cost of building crap and all of that) in inducing first time buyers to cough up the desired purchase price of the CIF but with the carrot of government assistance and without the new deposit burden. Our history of property-purchase incentives, particularly in the recent past has been disastrous and has played no small part in causing property prices to rise even further. The CIF is no Robin Hood and is merely desirous of exploiting the current dearth of supply and limited options for first time buyers by hawking them low-grade “starter homes” and making sure the CIF get the profitable purchase price they want.
Plus ça change….
The bland leading the blind.
No boom and bust – but let’s pressure the central bank to get rid of its sensible lending criteria, because the correct response to high prices and insanely high rents, driven by lack of supply and government policy, is using more government policy to drive up house prices.
Oh, because builders won’t build if they don’t instantly become millionaires? Well I guess that’s fine so.
the most sensible soundbite i’ve heard regarding the banks is that if a bank is too big to fail, then it’s too big to exist. the nature of capitalism as a system is that boom and bust is necessary in order for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. enda is a downright liar.
Fine Gael will need future recessions in order to have chance of being voted into government again.
Shane Ross fairly demolished the joke that is IBEC, too. Great read!
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/shane-ross/its-high-time-that-dinosaur-known-as-ibec-became-extinct-31470940.html
Indeed a good read, though he should’ve rung Ibec at sensible times. Wouldn’t have been as good a story though.
Sensible times? I reckon if you rang almost any private sector office after 1pm at 5pm, you would receive an answer.
“auction politics” – A danger in democratic politics in which state power may be ‘sold’ to the highest bidding groups (Encyclo)
So long as SIPO has no teeth and there’s no transparency in lobbying then it is safe to say that Enda is spoofing.