Local Sinn Fein councillor Paul Hogan has warned that Fianna Fail is in danger of reverting to its failed economic policies of the 1980s. Commenting on the Government’s announcement that it is to bring forward the 2009 Budget, Cllr Hogan said that the move is evidence of the extent of the current public finance crisis.
“Minister Lenihan’s claim that the country’s unprecedented economic circumstances are solely due to international factors and a contracting construction sector does not inspire confidence in this Government’s ability to get Ireland’s economy out of the hole they themselves dug,” said Cllr Hogan.
The councillor believes that the Government based the 2008 Budget on unrealistic figures by failing to recognise the likelihood of the contraction of the construction sector. “It has also sat back over the last seven years and allowed economic growth be driven by domestic consumption rather than by exports,” said Cllr Hogan.
“Job losses, at 6.1 per cent, are now the highest in 10 years, which has impacted on Government revenue from income taxes and consumption taxes, and critically is resulting in a higher bill for social welfare assistance payments. Failure to address the cost of living pressures on the low paid and those reliant on social assistance will further impact on government revenues with regard to spending taxes.”
According to Cllr Hogan, unemployment figures for Athlone show that the town has been badly hit by the recent economic crisis. “I obtained figures from the Central Statistics Office which paint a very gloomy picture for Athlone. The figure representing those on the Live Register for Athlone rose from 1,755 in July 2007 to 2,352 in August 2008. These figures indicate a rise of 25.4 per cent on Athlone’s Live Register.”
The Government must now introduce a strategy to stabilise the economy, says Cllr Hogan.
“The Government must stimulate growth in the medium term and look to advance a fundamental reorientation of the economy in the longer term. To date it has offered no strategy as to how it intends to address the rapidly rising unemployment figures and the staggering shortfall in tax revenue which is now likely to reach €5 billion by the end of the year.
“It is clear the Government is out of its depth and all indications are that it intends returning to the failed strategy of the 1980s of putting the burden on families and small businesses already struggling to cope with the cost of living. Cutbacks in public spending which undermine frontline services will not be tolerated.”
The councillor is convinced that over-reliance on the construction sector is not the way forward. “Sinn Féin is conscious that overdependence on the housing construction sector is one of the primary reasons why the economy is now facing the difficulties that it is. Workers from the construction sector must be redirected into alternative employment such as infrastructure projects and specialist construction, for example renewable energy,” he said.
“Critically the Government must not cut back on essential infrastructural projects. We simply cannot afford not to build infrastructure; this would be short-sighted and detrimental to economic growth. Proceeding with key infrastructural projects will increase our competitiveness. It also provides employment, keeping workers off the dole queues and contributing to the exchequer,” concluded Cllr Hogan.
