Vincent Browne's depiction of the PDs' influence on Government iswrong, writes Mary Harney
They say you should never let the facts get in the way of a good argument.
That certainly seems to be the motto of Vincent Browne. In his Irish Times column earlier this week he accused the Progressive Democrats of inspiring in Ireland "a mean, ungenerous, uncaring society, massively divided between rich and poor".
But Mr Browne bases his argument mainly on a series of statistics drawn from the year 1998 and some from even earlier. This is hardly an appropriate year to measure the degree of PD influence on economic policy: the party only re-entered government in the summer of 1997 after a five-year break and the first budget of the new coalition did not come into effect until 1998.
It seems to me harsh - if not strange - to judge a political party on the economic results of budgets brought in during the mid-1990s by its opponents. I would like to set the record straight and to measure the social and economic influence of the Progressive Democrats on the basis of the statistics not for 1998 but for 2003.
Vincent Browne says that Irish health spending is low by international standards. And he uses 1998 statistics in an attempt to support his charge of an uncaring party. But look at the figures for 2003 and see the real story.
Government health spending as a percentage of GNP is 8.6 per cent, well above the EU average of 7.5 per cent. On a per capita basis Irish health spending, at €2,304 per person, is the third-highest in the EU, with only Luxembourg and Denmark ahead of us.
To put things in context, our public expenditure per person on health is 8 per cent higher than France, 9 per cent higher than Germany, 37 per cent higher than the Netherlands and 70 per cent higher than Italy. These figures did not come about by accident. Health spending in Ireland now is three times what it was in 1996.
There is certainly a very valid case to be made for getting more value for the money which we spend on health in this country. But there is simply no basis in fact for the assertion that an uncaring government is starving the public health service of resources.
Remarkably, Vincent Browne regards a very modest tax break for private health insurance as, and I quote, "another huge benefit for the wealthy". Is he aware that more than half the population of this country is covered by private health insurance? Does simply having a subscription to BUPA or VHI make one wealthy?
Vincent Browne wants a fair society with reasonable levels of social expenditure, which he defines as being around the EU average.
Measuring public spending (exclusive of debt-servicing costs) as a percentage of GNP for 2003, Ireland comes in at 43.7 per cent, within a whisker of the EU average of 44.3 per cent.
Measured on a per-person basis, Irish expenditure on public services is actually substantially higher than the EU average.
This reflects the strong commitment of both Government parties to social cohesion and social justice.
Vincent Browne laments the fact that we do not spend the share of our national wealth on social security payments as in other developed countries. We would if we had their levels of unemployment; but we don't. In fact, our unemployment rate is less than half the European average and that is a direct result of the low-tax policies which the Progressive Democrats have consistently promoted.
And low expenditure on unemployment has enabled us to deliver record increases in old-age pensions and child benefit.
This country has made enormous social progress since 1997. We have gone from mass unemployment to full employment. We have halted emigration. And we have reduced long-term joblessness to the one of the lowest rates anywhere in the world.
Surely anybody with a real passion for social justice should be enormously proud of these achievements ?
In his 1997 election manifesto Tony Blair said that the best way to lift a person out of poverty was to give them a job, a real job. Measured by that yardstick the present Government has done more to reduce the level of poverty in Ireland than any of its predecessors. And we have done it by keeping taxes down on enterprise, on investment and on employment
Writing of Irish political parties, Vincent Browne states: "they are all Progressive Democrats now". I don't think so.
We have certainly won over some converts - Pat Rabbitte's recent pronouncements might qualify him for honorary membership of the PDs. But there is still a wide gap between where we stand and where Labour stands.
The Progressive Democrats are still the only party that preaches a liberal philosophy on economic issues. And we are still the only party that promotes competition right across all sectors of the economy as a matter of political principle. I welcome vigorous political debate. It is a pity, however, that Vincent Browne did not base his charges against the Progressive Democrats on more factual foundations.
It's not as if a lot of research was required. Every single statistic used in this article I have drawn from a single short paper published recently by John Lawlor and Colm McCarthy. It was covered extensively by Kitty Holland in The Irish Times of September 29th last.
The whole paper can be read in about 15 minutes and it's free. You should get yourself a copy, Vincent.
Mary Harney is Tánaiste and leader of the Progressive Democrats