McDowell sees role for private capital

Harnessing private capital is the only way the infrastructure detailed in the National Development Plan can be put in place, the Attorney General Mr Michael McDowell said yesterday. However, he said he believed there was a "cultural problem" getting in the way of such an approach to major infrastructural development.

Speaking to reporters after he had addressed a Leinster Society of Chartered Accountants' lunch in Dublin, Mr McDowell said he would be in favour of selecting major projects, such as the construction of an Eastern bypass or a motorway between Dublin and Galway, which would be of sufficient scale to attract large foreign companies. The projects should be offered on a design, build and operate basis.

Mr McDowell said he was against "raiding" the national pension reserve fund for use on infrastructural projects. While everyone would prefer to see the fund being invested in Ireland, the trustees charged with investing the money should be left to seek the highest return possible and should not be asked to make politically motivated decisions.

Addressing the lunch, Mr McDowell said it was worth recalling that 15 to 17 years ago the Republic was in the process of doubling its national debt during the lifetime of one government. There was high taxation, high unemployment, too much State involvement in the market and no competition in many areas.

The transformation of the economy over the past 15 years had been "tremendously positive but, above all, it has been the engine of social justice", he said.

However, the "left wing ideologies" which failed in the past "are still on offer", he said, with people proposing higher public expenditure and higher tax rates. "All the worst characteristics of tax and spend are still on offer." Such policies would not create social justice. "The greatest poverty fighter is a job."

If the State doesn't continue to keep the fundamentals right, the old days of high unemployment could return. People should bear this in mind when they go to the polls, he said. It is not the case that all the political parties have similar policies.

Mr McDowell said some of the recent changes in the economy could be reversed. "Time is not on our side."

The advantages the Republic enjoyed in terms of being an English-speaking common law State could be swept away if the required infrastructural development did not take place. New physical and intellectual infrastructure needed to be put in place.

This was not a time for "funny money" or "ill thought out" ideas such as compensating people for losses on shares.

Nor was it a time for "pop star" political candidates. Political choices needed to be made and people should take a long hard look at for whom they intended voting.