The wider interests of the country should be the primary consideration and not sectional interests, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said in his first public response to the McCarthy Report from the body known as An Bord Snip Nua.
Speaking to reporters at an Ógra Fianna Fail function in Collins Barracks this morning, Mr Cowen said: “It can’t be just about defending one’s individual patch, it’s about looking at the process in the round and seeing what’s in the interests of the country at this time.”
He said everyone should “critically and carefully read the Report and consider it”, The Report had indicated the scale of the challenges facing the country and he stressed that, “this is a challenge that the country as a whole has to face”.
“Government now will take that Report and input it into the consideration that we have to give it as part of our Estimates and Budgetary preparations.”
When it was put to him that the proposal for a 5 per cent cut in Social Welfare rates was politically unsustainable, Mr Cowen replied: “We have to look at all of these issues. The scale of the issues is such that no area of expenditure is immune from consideration.
“We have seen a lot of improvements and quite rightly so in a whole range of social policy areas down the years but you can’t begin this process given the scale of the problem we face by starting to suggest that various parts of expenditure can’t be considered for review or for adjustment. You have to look at everything.”
Asked if there were elements of the report in general which it would politically imprudent to implement, he responded: “The criteria that one has to adopt here is to recognise the circumstances in which the country and the country’s finances are and to face up to the fact that the quicker we can effect recovery is the means by which we get this job done.
“From my point of view the Government is determined to do what’s right by the country at the present time. So there are challenges, there are things that one has to consider that one wouldn’t have to consider in normal times but these are all recommendations and they have to be looked at by government and decisions will be taken ultimately by government and indeed by the Dáil."
Commenting on the negative reaction in trade union circles, Mr Cowen said: “Since last January we have had an understanding that there is a process of adjustment that has to take place and it’s quite severe and it’s quite difficult.
“I think all of us have to avoid any knee-jerk reacton to the Report and just recognise that the quicker we get our public finances in order, as we know from recent economic history, the quicker we can put ourselves in a position to get back to growth and jobs again."
When he was asked if redundancies in the public service were inevitable, the Taoiseach answered: “One of the ways of controlling public service pay and pensions is through the numbers who are employed and that is a method that has been adopted in the past as we tried to deal with the current situation.”
Asked about the possibility of a negative reaction from his backbenchers, he said: “Everyone in Government understands and recognises the importance [of a proper response]. The three things that are necessary to effect recovery are, restoring order to the public finances, making the economy more competitive so that we can create jobs and maintain jobs and, thirdly, restructuring our banking system and all of those things have to be done and this report will feed into that process now."
As regards the report’s proposal to dismantle the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, he said: “The question of how we organise government or deliver services is a matter for Government decision in due course.”
Fianna Fáil TD and former minister Mary O’Rourke said earlier the Government should consider recommendations in the report that affected the weaker sections of society least. Ms O’Rourke said: “Savings should not be made at the expense of the most vulnerable. The overriding consideration should be equity and fairness to those most in need”.
Limerick Fianna Fáil TD Niall Collins said he believed people would accept the recommendations if the plan was implemented "in a top down approach".
Mr Collins said: "These recommendations many of which are necessary to restore order to our public finances are very harsh potentially on some sectors of our society," he said.
