Government ‘complacent to the point of smugness’

THE economy is overheating and the Government is oblivious to the danger, Labour leader Pat Rabbitte has warned.

He also claimed that the Government was failing in other crucial areas, such as the delivery of improved public services.

“After 10 years of this Government, everything needs fixing or is under strain,” he said.

Speaking to the Association of European Journalists at St Stephen’s Green Club in Dublin yesterday, Mr Rabbitte said the present government was “complacent to the point of smugness” about economic growth.

“Since the last election, the combined deficit on our trade and other international dealings totals nearly €13 billion.

“By the time this self-satisfied coalition leaves office, the total will have reached more than €21 billion because the gap in our balance of payments is now running at almost €8 billion a year,” he said.

“The point about the balance of payments deficit is that it is a clear sign that the economy is overheating and we all know it is being overheated by too much borrowed money,” Mr Rabbitte added.

The manufacturing sector was slowly eroding and the Government was doing little to improve the country’s competitiveness, he claimed. “If we continue to have a Government with no one at the controls and no action is taken to restore balance to the economy, the danger is that recession will do the job for us the hard way,” Mr Rabbitte warned.