SEANAD REPORT:THE OUTBURST by the Taoiseach in the Dáil last Tuesday had put paid to a bipartisan approach to the serious problems facing this country in economic terms, Eugene Regan (FG) said.

Mr Cowen had demonstrated that he had his own view about how things should be done. “He is going to do it his own way, and he is going to do it alone.” Because of this Government members of the House should desist from silly talk about involving the Opposition in doing the Government’s work.

An editorial in The Irish Times last June had spoken about determined leadership being required to steady nerves and to chart a way forward. It had also asked if Mr Cowen was up to it, said Mr Regan.

Donie Cassidy, leader of the Seanad, said: “That shows how out of date it is.”

Mr Regan said was it the case that they had not had decisions from the Taoiseach because he had become institutionalised and could not think outside the institutional box he had grown up with?

“I think the problem now is that Brian Cowen is Taoiseach. That is the problem we have in getting out of the economic recession.”

David Norris (Ind) said he found it slightly fatuous to claim that the global financial crisis was due to the existence of Brian Cowen as Taoiseach.

Labhras Ó Murchú (FF) said he could sense that there was unity in the chamber on how the economic difficulties should be tackled. He believed the talks between the Government and the social partners would result in agreement.

Jerry Buttimer (FG) said he was getting a bit tired of “this clarion call” for national unity when the most partisan people were those in Government.

A Fine Gael member asked why there was a need for the Taoiseach to “swan off to a jamboree in the ski slopes of Switzerland” instead of staying at home and giving the country the leadership it needed.

Mr Cowen had been right to go to Japan recently in an effort to boost our exports to Asia, said Paschal Donohoe. But why was he swanning off to the Swiss resort of Davos to join luminaries such as Vladimir Putin and many of the banks that were responsible for the difficulties afflicting our economy at a time when the entire country was looking for leadership?

Dominic Hannigan (Labour) said that if Mr Cowen did not go to Switzerland serious questions might be asked by the international community as to why he did not show up.

Ivor Callely (FF) complained that Mr Donohoe had put forward a slightly unfair slant that Mr Cowen would be having a nice time on the ski slopes. He understood that the Taoiseach had been invited to participate in an important gathering of political and industrial leaders.

Mr Buttimer said he also wondered why the Taoiseach was going to this summit. Why could he not send the Minister for Enterprise and Employment?