Gilmore: Stop house repossessions during recession
In addition, the Government itself should be aiming to spend more, not less, as it attempts to revive the economy, he argued.
Speaking at a party conference in Co Kilkenny, Mr Gilmore accused the Government of being willing to bring “the worst form of vulture capitalist” into Ireland to prop up the banks.
These short-term investors would simply work to extract more profit from the banks by any measure necessary — including job cuts — and then “disappear” once they had a return on their money.
Mr Gilmore said it would be preferable for the state to take capital in the banks. But he stressed that, whatever the way banks were helped, there had to be a “return” for the taxpayer.
“If the taxpayer can go guarantor for the banks, then we must have a guarantee for families: a guarantee that, for the duration of this recession, no family will lose their home,” he said.
“If we can bail out the bankers and protect the property developers, then for two years at least, foreclosure and repossession should be off limits.”
Similarly, he said, banks would have to reopen lines of credit for businesses in return for state assistance.
Mr Gilmore also claimed the Government was going about the task of reviving the economy the wrong way.
He pointed out that this year’s winner of the Nobel prize for economics, Professor Paul Krugman, had called on governments to respond to the global crisis by providing economic stimulus in the form of higher spending and greater aid to those in distress.
“That is the very opposite... to what Fianna Fáil are doing,” said Mr Gilmore.
“The key to getting out of this economic crisis is not how much the Government can cut, but what it can create,” he added, calling for a stimulus plan along the lines of those introduced by Gordon Brown in Britain and planned by Barack Obama in the US.
The Government could increase short-term borrowing on a prudent basis, or dip into the National Pension Reserve Fund, to put unemployed construction workers back into jobs building schools and hospitals.
Similarly, the Government could provide plentiful “green collar jobs” by investing money to kick-start Irish recycling and renewable energy industries.
Creating new jobs would also mean more broadband connections and improving connection speeds.
“Buy back eircom if necessary,” said Mr Gilmore.
“Rebuild this asset for the Irish people. And create hi-tech jobs.”
Mr Gilmore also called on the Government to reconvene the social partners and seek agreement “on a new social and economic plan” to see Ireland through the recession.
Meanwhile, Mr Gilmore told members the party had to change in order to succeed at future elections.
An internal group, entitled the “21st Century Labour Commission”, had originally been due to present a report outlining proposals for change to this week’s conference.
But the report has been put back until Labour’s next conference in March because of concerns about some of the proposals involved.
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