THE GOVERNMENT has no plan to deal with the biggest economic crisis in a quarter of a century and lacks the conviction to win public confidence, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny told an opening session of a two-day special conference of his parliamentary party in Co Clare yesterday.
Warning that the next general election "may come a lot sooner than expected", he told his colleagues that if they were "united, disciplined and tough" they would win power in the next Dáil.
Focusing on the Government's approach to the economy, Mr Kenny said people were frightened because nobody seemed to be in charge.
"In response to the biggest economic crisis in a quarter century, the Government first denied, then dithered, then went on holidays."
He added: "All the Government seems to be able to do is congratulate itself - in advance - for tough actions they haven't yet taken, and they'd never have needed to take if they'd done their job well enough in the first place.
"They also do something else. They blame everything and everybody in the world for their problems. The economic meltdown is all the fault of external circumstances."
The No vote in the Lisbon Treaty referendum was the Government's latest excuse for our economic difficulties. "The blunt fact is that none of that is true."
Claiming that Ireland's economy was suffering "disproportionately", Mr Kenny asked: "Why are we doing so much worse than France or Spain or Singapore?"
The answer was that "the foundations of our economy were so skewed by the love-affair Fianna Fáil has with construction".
"Fine Gael consistently pointed to the lack of balance. We warned of its dangers."
That was what "honourable opposition" was all about: "telling the truth fearlessly. Saying it as it is. Sounding the warning klaxon and proposing corrective action. While we did all this, Fianna Fáil wilfully continued to drag this country towards disaster." He added: "There's a bleak consistency in Fianna Fáil's approach to vested interests. They face them down, back them up against a wall - and give them what they want.
"Other than wanting to pump the construction industry back to its old, unbalanced status, where is the plan? Where are the development ideas? There are no ideas."
Outlining the programme for the annual "think-in", he said: "This conference is about setting out what we as a party are going to achieve in the next 12 months.
"It's about laying down deadlines, details and deliverables. It's about practical planning - for power."
He added: "This Government doesn't have the conviction or the competence to win and hold the confidence of the public. The next general election may come a lot sooner than expected.
"This party has, therefore, got to have a sense of belief that it can win that election."
"That is my agenda. It's the frontbench's agenda. It's your agenda, and if we are united, disciplined and tough in its pursuit the next general election is ours to win."
Guest speakers at the different sessions of the conference, which are being held in private at a Co Clare hotel, include broadcaster George Hook, ESRI senior research officer Alan Barrett, Prof Richard Sinnott of UCD and US author and political analyst Prof Drew Westen.