The Taoiseach Brian Cowen has rejected as inaccurate comparisons between Ireland and Iceland made in a speech by European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso in Davos yesterday.
Mr Cowen said last night: “Those comparisons are not accurate. Ireland has seen 12,13 excellent years, one better than the next.”
“We have seen a very sharp financial crisis that has attacked globally – there is nowhere to hide for any country."
Mr Cowen said he would not accept “bad mouthing of Ireland” and was in Davos to “fight for every job we can and continue to put our best foot forward”.
In reply to a question about the security of being in the euro zone, Mr Cowen said: "That’s very true and it is a point that I have been making since the financial crisis began and started to take hold international.”
“The European Central Bank and our membership of the euro as a zone of stability for Ireland, even in these difficult times, where we are so export oriented," the Taoiseach added.
Mr Cowen was responding to comments from Mr Barroso at the Davos economic forum yesterday who said the euro had "acted as a very important shield" during the economic crisis for some countries.
Mr Barroso compared Ireland, a member of the euro, with Iceland, which was outside the single currency and collapsed during the crisis.
"It is interesting to compare Ireland with Iceland," Mr Barroso told delegates. "They are two relatively small economies but the difference was – among others – that Ireland was a member of the euro area (and) so a country in a respected currency.
"In fact Iceland was considering informally the possibilities of joining the euro. We told the authorities in Iceland that it was impossible to become a member of the euro before becoming a member of the European Union."
Mr Barroso said that Iceland did not benefit from the massive injections of liquidity by the European Central Bank during the crisis and that he did not believe that the euro was at risk because of the deteriorating public finances in certain eurozone countries.
"It has been very successful, the euro, for the countries of the euro area and just think one moment what would be the position – because we have to think always of the alternatives – how would be the situation in Europe if the different countries - France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Ireland and all the others - were trying to manage exchange rates and the instability coming from it”, he said.