FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny said yesterday that Taoiseach Brian Cowen had “changed his tune” and invited other party leaders to economic talks because of a loss of Ireland’s credibility on international markets.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Kenny said he believed Mr Cowen had belatedly come to recognise "that international markets have no faith in the current strategy of growth for Ireland, because the Government is near its end".
At the same time, Mr Kenny seemed to play down expectations of any agreement between his party and the Government on specific budgetary measures.
The Fine Gael leader said a more likely scenario for the talks would involve his party reaffirming its already-stated belief in three broad but closely related objectives: that the State’s budget deficit would have to be reduced to 3 per cent of GDP; that this needed to be accomplished by 2014; and that it was vital to draw up a four-year plan to achieve this now, rather than proceeding on a year-by-year basis.
While welcoming what he called “a change of attitude and a change of tone” from Mr Cowen, Mr Kenny said endorsement of these broad targets amounted to “something Fine Gael have already accepted for quite a long time”. He added: “I would like to hear what the Taoiseach has in mind beyond that – if anything.”
Mr Kenny met yesterday with immigration-reform advocates from the Irish-American community. But he gave a sobering analysis of where the battle for immigration reform now stands.
“Comprehensive immigration legislation is dead for the moment. You are not going to have a bilateral agreement either,” he said, citing the near-certainty of the Democratic Party incurring significant losses in next month’s US congressional elections.