Parlon warns on damaging economy

Ireland’s economy has been severely damaged internationally by reports of impending economic doom, the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) director general said today.

Tom Parlon said it was important to take a “balanced view” of the prospects for Ireland’s economy and not concentrate disproportionately on the downside risks.

“Unfortunately, it seems that an industry has built up around negative commentary on the Irish economy,” Mr Parlon said at the Hibernian Insurance Broker Conference.

“Even positive findings on the economy are presented with a negative tinge.

“Indeed, in a number of recent cases positive reports on the short- and medium-term economic prospects have been relegated to mere footnotes to more eye-catching, sensationalist predictions of doom and gloom.”

Mr Parlon’s comments come a day after the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) warned that wage restraint was required in the near term to improve competitiveness and to raise the economy's export performance.

In its report published yesterday, the Paris-based economic think-tank argued for higher taxes on Irish housing and the phasing out of mortgage interest relief or the introduction of a “well-designed” property or capital gains tax.

But Mr Parlon said in various meetings with “international agencies and potential investors “we have to counteract the poor perception of the Irish economy that has formed as a result of the flood of negative reports and predictions emanating from within Ireland.

“We have a range of state agencies — IDA, Enterprise Ireland and indeed Government departments themselves — actively promoting Ireland to international investors.

“Their work is not being helped by home grown scaremongers and doomsayers.”

He said the economy would continue to grow and in both the short- and medium-term will continue to outperform other euro area economies.

He said Ireland must resist the temptation to “chase inflation in the upcoming pay talks, but rather focus on addressing domestically-driven inflation.”