THE GOVERNMENT will last its full term until 2012 if it can succeed in getting through the €3 billion cuts planned for December’s budget, a senior Minister has said.
Minister for Community Affairs Pat Carey has also said that Taoiseach Brian Cowen faced “a landmine each day” during his first 18 months in charge, and said Mr Cowen held his nerve in spite of enormous pressures.
“The Government will run its course, but that will take effort. The way we did it last year was by taking one step at a time. The objective now will be to make it through by understanding the difficulties posed by the next budget. We need to get support from the Dáil for it and an understanding from the public for it.”
Mr Carey said despite low showings for Fianna Fáil in opinion polls, other findings in the polls were more positive.
“An interesting thing is that those who feel that the Government is going in the right direction has increased from rock bottom to more positive figures.”
He conceded the figures were still very low. “We are a long way from getting a majority of people. I certainly believe that there’s a growing body of opinion out there who grudgingly acknowledge what we have done. But we have a plan that is being worked through.”
Mr Carey accepted that the political environment has been subverted since 2007.
“The next election will be intriguing. People will look long and hard, and will look closely as to who is likely to take decisions that will improve the situation.”
There is a view that Mr Cowen has not lived up to the high expectations placed on him before becoming Taoiseach and has been a disappointment. Mr Carey rejects this.
“We have spent two years working very closely together. I saw him at close quarters. He is a very hard worker; he is very focused and a strategic thinker.
“He works incredibly hard and very long hours. In the first 18 months when he took over there was a landmine a day that was exploding. He held his nerve and got the Government to hold its nerve.”
One of the criticisms of Mr Cowen is over his communication skills.
Mr Carey said: “What he did was not to gain popularity. A decision was taken that, whatever else happened, Fianna Fáil was going to put the country first.”
He said the critical challenge facing Government now was finding €3 billion in savings this year. He said scoping work was being done by each department at present.
“The momentum for that will increase from the end of August. We will do what we did last year, consult with colleagues in Government and the parliamentary party to make sure that everybody understands the situation.”