This is not the time for "some grand new chapter of EU integration, or some European Union 'moonshot'", the Taoiseach has told The Irish Times Brexit conference in Dublin this morning.
In the wake of the UK’s decision to leave the EU, and as governments and EU institutions prepare to negotiate the terms of the British exit, the union must demonstrate that it can “take sensible positions, implement important decisions, and deliver concrete results for its citizens,” the Taoiseach said.
He was speaking to a capacity audience at the Westin Hotel in central Dublin.
The EU, Mr Kenny said, "EU doesn't have to define the next great challenges, but it needs to demonstrate that it can respond effectively to them."
He said that both the Irish and British Governments “have agreed” that there should be no return to a hard border and that the benefits of the common travel area between the two countries must be preserved.
He referred to the various models of Britain’s future relationship with the EU, and said that “Britain will want a British solution”.
However, neither he nor European leaders knew what exactly that would be. “I don’t know,” he said.
The Taoiseach also reiterated the need for prudent long term planning for the public finances, especially with the challenges of Brexit looming.
“Maintaining a long view, identifying where we want to be as a country and ensuring that we have the right policies in place to get us there - and sticking to them over time - has traditionally not been a strong suit in this country,” Mr Kenny said.
“We have too often been driven by the here-and-now, and insufficiently attentive to the challenges that lie further down the road.
“I am committed to a different approach, one that does not prioritise the tactical short-term advantage over the long-term strategic gain.”
As pressure mounts from public sector unions in the wake of the Labour’s Courts recommendation for additional allowances to bolster the pay of gardaí, Mr Kenny said, there could be “no escaping one simple truth – if we are to secure economic stability into the future there can be no departure from the responsible management of the public finances.”
“Not ever. We cannot go back to the boom-and-bust, the when-I-have-it-I-spend-it recklessness that brought the country to the brink,” he added.
“And, to those who argue for a so-called loosening of the purse-strings, they should remember that loose spending eventually has to be reined in, and when that has to happen in an unplanned way, it bears hardest on those who rely most on public services and supports. It isn’t sound economics, and it isn’t socially just,” he said.
“There will always be competing and compelling cases made for additional spending, whether on public services or on pay.
“Our job as a responsible Government is to review and consider them as part of a wider picture. Not to concede them without question, nor to reject them without a fair hearing, but to maintain a strategic approach to the management of the economy that strikes a careful balance between what might be desirable and what is possible, including over time.
“In doing so, the emphasis must remain on expenditure that is fair, and that helps to invest in our future development and growth,” he said.
