Kenny warns of dark clouds on horizon
This commitment was made when the Mayo man addressed a lunch in Dun Laoghaire organised by the Chamber of Commerce.
What else would you expect him to say as the leader of a modern right wing party? Or was it that he felt the need to impress on the electorate that Fine Gael’s policy on private enterprise has caught up with the more radical Labour Party?
It may well be the new leader has a sense that his party in the past was less committed to the private enterprise culture that, to a significant degree, defines what we have become.
When the Celtic Tiger boomed it was significant the electorate refused to hand power back to Fine Gael.
The truth is they didn’t trust them with the economy even though they knew in a very basic way Fianna Fail was seriously hooky.
It is also true that in the past the Fine Gaelers were never entirely comfortable with the cut and thrust of business.
Factories that gave jobs to people and the wealth created from business activities were classed inferior to the fees earned by the professional classes.
That has been a discernible difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil even if it was the latter that laid the foundations for IDA Ireland as well as giving us Bord na Móna and other utilities that formed the basis of modern Ireland.
It’s a peculiar contradiction.
It isn’t that long ago either when the party of the wigs and gowns sneered at Fianna Fáil’s efforts of trying to get the Financial Services Sector off the ground.
The storm clouds were gathering over the Financial Services Centre one of the better established Fine Gael front benchers jibed across the floor of Dáil at the time.
The problem was the jibe contained a degree of glee, suggesting the person in question would have been happy to see it fail.
The point being that giving Fianna Fáil one was far more important to Fine Gael than the creation of sustainable jobs.
But then the party of the farming community and the wigs and gowns never wanted for anything and they didn’t have the hunger for jobs in the way Fianna Fáil had at the time.
This was at a time when others believed in Ireland and in its economic potential - people like Dermot Desmond and the currently out of favour former Taoiseach, Charles Haughey.
It seems Fine Gael has taken longer to reach that view.
It’s curious that Enda Kenny felt if necessary to state the party in power would adopt a pro enterprise agenda and a pro business stance.
His comments however are to be welcomed because the issue of competitiveness was raised recently in a new report by economist Paul Tansey in a review of economic challenges facing us.
Productivity will be key he argued because the labour market will not grow sufficiently to drive the economy in the way it has done.
Kenny sincerely believes the present government is too long at the helm and cannot be trusted, which is an interesting twist.
Perhaps he is right. Paul Tansey, an independent economist, warned that we have to become more productive if we are to sustain economic growth long term.
We would also have to retain our sovereignty and keep Brussels away form interfering with our favourable business tax regime.
We will have to work smarter not harder in future he said in an economic study carried out to commemorate Microsoft’s 20 years in Ireland.
Kenny says it’s time for a Government that can work with our new wealth and with our new success, to get it working for the benefit of society as a whole.
But like Mr Tansey he sees trouble ahead.
We have gone from fourth place to 30th in the World Economic Global Report this year.
Rocketing prices between 1999 and 2003 - rising 22% more than in other EU countries is pretty sobering. Most worrying were the Government-imposed increases, he said, with six out of nine national indicators directly linked to Government actions.
Spoken like a true entrepreneur.
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