Sir, – Fintan O'Toole likes stories (Opinion & Analysis: "Who will dare say out loud 'emperor has no clothes'?", June 30th). Incomplete, one-sided stories are his favourite kind.
In these, it’s okay to leave out any fact that doesn’t suit your narrative.
Fintan chose to leave out some basic facts about the approach of Enda Kenny’s Government to dealing with Ireland’s financial crisis.
As the Taoiseach has said repeatedly, Ireland’s recovery is based on the forbearance and resilience of the Irish people, and that recovery remains fragile.
However, it should be acknowledged, this Government removed job-damaging income tax increases from the original bailout agreement, with no income tax increases in Budget 2012, 2013 or 2014. Budget 2015 saw income tax reductions benefitting 742,000 people. 330,000 individuals were removed from the USC entirely in Budget 2012. A further 87,000 were removed from the USC entirely in Budget 2015.
The Government’s jobs initiative within its first 100 days halved the lower rate of employers’ PRSI for three years and a cut to the lower VAT rate introduced a 9 per cent rate for the hospitality sector.
According to Fáilte Ireland, it is estimated that an extra 30,000 people are now employed in the 9 per cent VAT categories with 19,000 of these in the tourism sector. The Action Plan for Jobs set a target in 2012 of achieving 100,000 new jobs by the end of 2016. This target was reached last May, more than a year early. All of this does not mean for a second that the recovery has been easy for people and many have yet to feel it.
Enda Kenny’s Government has pursued pro-growth, pro-jobs policies with a range of measures to support small business, growth in jobs-rich sectors and foreign direct investment. Enda Kenny himself has explained this approach in full at two press conferences subsequent to his original comments but Fintan O’Toole, and others have chosen to ignore that completely.
I guess it didn’t suit the narrative either.
– Yours, etc, FEARGAL PURCELL
Government press secretary, Department of An Taoiseach, Merrion Street, Dublin 2.