‘Recession bears no resemblance to that of 1980s’

LONG-TERM pessimism about Ireland’s economic fortunes is “unfounded” and the current recession bears no resemblance to that of the 1980s, delegates at the Engineers Ireland annual conference heard yesterday.

Opening proceedings at the Tullamore Court Hotel, in Co Offaly, Engineers Ireland and NUI Galway president Jim Browne said that even accounting for an anticipated 10% fall in GDP over the next two years and increased unemployment, Ireland is still a very wealthy and innovative country and “certainly far ahead of where we were 20 years ago”.

“The notion that Ireland of 2009 has significant parallels with that of the 1980s is simply not true. An analysis which takes account of non-reversible developments in areas such as infrastructure, numbers in employment, level of exports, the industrial base of our economy as well as development of human capital makes it clear that our situation today is very different. We now have a platform on which we can build our future success if we correct our public finances and ensure that we are prepared for the upturn in the world economy,” Mr Browne told delegates.