Harney: I don’t feel any shame

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney says she does not feel any sense of shame for being part of a Government that had to call in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to deal with Ireland’s financial crisis.

“No, I don’t actually,” the minister said yesterday and pointed out that Britain recovered very quickly after calling on the IMF for help in the 1970s when James Callaghan was Prime Minister.

“[The British] had to make decisions that were tough and we have to make decisions that are tough and we will make those decisions,” Ms Harney said.

The minister also stressed that there was no question of Ireland getting a bailout and that the country had the capacity to pay back any money borrowed.

Ms Harney said the Government’s responsibility now was to protect the taxpayer and bring in a budget with a fiscal adjustment of €6bn and a four-year plan.

But she refused to be drawn when asked if she was disappointed that it had come to a point where the IMF had to be called upon to help the country out.

“We have not asked anybody to do anything,” said Ms Harney, who pointed out that when Ireland joined the eurozone it pooled much of its sovereignty. “You pool your sovereignty — you lose some, you gain some,” she said.

The minister said she had huge confidence in the Minister for Finance, Brian Lenihan, and that he had done an “awesome” job in the last two years.

And, she said, while the €6bn the Government had identified as the fiscal adjustment for the next year did not have the support of the opposition parties, it had the support of the country’s international partners and that was significant.

Ms Harney, however, admitted that, in hindsight, there might be areas where the Government could have done things differently.

“Perhaps we should have benchmarked public sector pay against public sector pay in other countries,” she said.

Ms Harney said she hoped those responsible for the banking crisis would be brought to justice.

“Unfortunately, our process here takes a lot longer than it does in other countries. I accept that and that can be very annoying for the public at large because they may feel because there has not been a prosecution that nobody is going to be held to account.”