Taoiseach 'insincere' over crisis

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has been accused of insincerity over his explanations for the cause of Ireland’s crippling economic crisis.

Fianna Fáil’s John McGuinness, a junior minister in the last government, claimed Mr Kenny was giving mixed messages to two audiences over where the fault for recession lies.

The controversy broke at the Davos economic gathering yesterday when the Taoiseach said Ireland’s economic crisis was caused by people’s mad borrowing.

In a pre-recorded interview for RTE, broadcast after his heavily-criticised remarks were aired across Europe, Mr Kenny went on to blame reckless lending by banks, incompetent government, and greedy borrowing for disastrous development.

Despite the later more detailed message, the Opposition and social commentators launched stinging attacks and accused the Taoiseach of sending out two messages for two different audiences.

Mr McGuinness said his credibility had been damaged.

“When you are delivering a message like that, whether it is in Dublin or Davos, if you are sincere about the message it will be the same,” he said.

“I think the message being delivered by the Taoiseach in terms of what he said in Davos yesterday has damaged his credibility and his message.

“You can’t deliver two different messages to the same audience.”

The initial remarks, described by Social Justice Ireland campaigner Fr Sean Healy as extraordinarily lopsided, were made at an open discussion at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps.

Both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin have claimed the comments were at odds with the Taoiseach’s assessment in a pre-budget address to the nation last month when he said: “Let me say this to you all: you are not responsible for the crisis.”

The follow-up broadcast from Davos, broadcast last night on RTE’s Prime Time, was recorded before the panel discussion took place.

“I’ve said that the people here were the victims,” the Taoiseach told the broadcaster.

“Our people have been the victims of the situation. We are left with the circumstances of cleaning that up.”

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar defended the Taoiseach.

“We can all admit that the moral flaw at the heart of the crisis was greed and some people were greedy, but everyone was not,” he said.

“A lot of people just got by on what they had, bought the house they could afford to buy. But at the same time there were other people who borrowed too much, who spent too much and who made foolish investments and we are all paying for the price of that.”

Jobs Minister Richard Bruton also went on the air to defend the Taoiseach and Government policy and Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has said Mr Kenny did not mean to offend, or contradict his state of the nation speech when he said people were not to blame.

Ms Burton said: "In the totality of the different statements that the Taoiseach has made it is very clear that he understands and he is explaining the story of what happened in Ireland.

"The story of what happened in Ireland is of course rooted in what a group of probably less than 10,000 people did, the bankers and the developers, who did lose the run of themselves."