Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny today accused Taoiseach Brian Cowen of "washing his hands" on his role in Ireland’s economic crisis.
Speaking during party front bench meeting in Cork City Hall today, Mr Kenny also claimed Fianna Fáil were spreading fear among the public by considering cuts to the old age pension.
In a speech at Dublin City University last night, Mr Cowen defended his management of the economy in the years leading up to the property crash but conceded the economic and banking crisis was made worse by internal factors, including mistakes by government.
“Sorry is a word that Fianna Fail do not recognise, they don’t understand,” Mr Kenny told party colleagues today.
“They’re out of touch with the real concerns, the anxieties and the truth and the reality of what Irish people now face everyday. We’re all told about green shoots, we’re all told about turning the corners – I don’t see much evidence of that on the ground. The ESRI tell us another 70,000 more jobs will be lost this year and 60,000 will emigrate. We need now to have a situation where you have a real investment in job creation.”
Mr Kenny said the Taoiseach, in defending his own personal handling of events, was refusing to acknowledge that he drove the economy “up on the rocks” for four years when he was in minister for finance.
“He expects everybody else to accept responsibility for it but not him,” he said. “It’s another example of hands being washed by those in charge, a refusal to accept responsibility for their part in destroying the Irish economy and heaping economic woes and depression upon so many people.”
Mr Kenny also called on the Taoiseach to give a commitment not to make cuts to the old age pension in the forthcoming Budget. Minister for Social Protection Eamon Ó Cuív said yesterday he could not rule out the possibility of cuts.
“This is a case where the Government should take away the fear, the concern and the anxiety that thousand of pensioners have to face. Brian Cowen today can protect this area of our social economy. He can take away that fear and anxiety.”