TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen has invited Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore to a meeting to discuss the four-year budgetary plan which has to be finalised with the European Commission next month.
In a marked change of tone, Mr Cowen endorsed the Green Party proposal for a meeting of leaders to establish if there is a basis for political consensus on the four-year plan.
Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said he was pleased the Taoiseach had decided to meet the Opposition leaders. “I welcome it and will be responding positively to Mr Cowen’s letter,” he said.
The Labour Party said the actions of Mr Cowen had been confused and inconsistent. “The letter is totally inconsistent with what the Taoiseach said in the Dáil and what he said last Friday,” said a spokesman, who added that the letter would be considered and a response sent in due course. However, former Labour Party leader Dick Spring said Mr Cowen had “brought some credibility” to the national consensus initiative after the Green Party had “sprung” the process on him in an unprofessional manner.
The change of sentiment by Mr Cowen, since his muted support for the initiative in the Dáil on Tuesday, came of his own volition, and not under pressure from the Greens, according to a Government source.
He said Mr Cowen was unhappy yesterday with the manner in which Opposition parties had characterised his position as it was consistent with the line he had taken all along.
In his letters to Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore the Taoiseach said that following exchanges with them in the Dáil on Tuesday he wanted to reiterate his position on the desirability of having constructive engagement with the Opposition parties.
The Taoiseach said he greatly welcomed the fact that the main Opposition parties accepted the Government target of achieving a fiscal deficit of below 3 per cent by the end of 2014. “This is absolutely essential not only to achieve stability, but to enable us to convince lenders and investors that our funding needs now, and over the four years ahead, can be met with confidence,” he said.
“While the Government has the constitutional responsibility to propose the fiscal strategy and the budgetary measures that are necessary, it does not have a monopoly on wisdom. We are at a point where every sensible and viable proposal needs to be heard and considered,” added the Taoiseach.
Mr Cowen said it was in that spirit he had proposed that the Opposition parties should be afforded comprehensive access to information, analysis and costing by the officials of the Department of Finance.
He told Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore that he very much welcomed the fact that their parties had taken up that offer and that these briefings would take place shortly. “The people of this country are mature and responsible. They expect our political system to reflect that seriousness of purpose . . . Therefore, notwithstanding the major political differences between us, I believe the pursuit of the national interest and the common good must have priority.
“That is why, following the briefings of the Opposition by the Department of Finance, I would like to meet with you, as proposed by my colleague, Minister [John] Gormley, to confirm, in the first instance, that we share the objective of putting the public finances back on a sustainable footing by 2014.”
Mr Cowen said that would send a strong signal to Ireland’s EU colleagues and the international markets that the main political parties here were at one in their determination to achieve that objective and do so in line with the commitments that the Government has made.
“I would also propose that we explore the extent to which cross-party consensus could be achieved on a realistic approach to putting the public finances on a sustainable footing by 2014,” said the Taoiseach, who added that he would ask his private secretary to make the necessary arrangements for the meeting.