‘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.

“The most pessimistic predictions of unemployment will still see 1.8 million people at work in Ireland at the end of this year. This compares with a figure of just over 900,000 in the early 1980s. Much of our infrastructure has been transformed in the past 20 years. Our road infrastructure, while not perfect, is greatly improved. Our telecommunications and telecomputing infrastructure is developing rapidly with our broadband service continually improving. While international opinion such as that of [US economist] Paul Krugman and the IMF has rightly highlighted issues that we need to address, these viewpoints do not take into account the huge progress Ireland has made in terms of developing its human capital and infrastructure,” he added.

He also pointed to our participation in a strong eurozone, adding that if the Government can tackle the country’s cost competitiveness issue, we can take advantage of the economic upturn when it arrives.