Clinton predicts Ireland will bounce back within 5 years
In an upbeat, but sober, address to the Global Irish Economic Forum in Dublin Castle, the former US president said that no nation had achieved such a speedy recovery since economic boom and bust bubbles emerged in the early 17th century, but he believed Ireland was poised to defy economic precedence.
Mr Clinton offered to host a special Irish jobs summit in New York next year to help boost the recovery. He said a similar gathering organised by his foundation concentrating on the US market had resulted in $12 billion (€9bn) of investment and the creation of 150,000 jobs.
Mr Clinton said the greatest threat to Irish recovery was a feeling of despondency and defeatism among its people.
“I know a lot of people in Ireland are discouraged but the rest of the world thinks Ireland is pretty great,” he said, as he discussed the country’s future on a panel containing Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Bono.
Mr Clinton declared he was a “professional Irish-American” and said there was still an untapped well of goodwill in the US towards Ireland and investment in the country.
He called on Ireland to “Get your game face on” and go out into world markets and compete for investments by selling the country’s strong advantages, in particular in advanced technologies.
Mr Clinton said correcting the mortgage debt crisis was key to gaining economic recovery and that people were too afraid to spend if they believed they were in danger of losing their homes.
He also supported Government proposals to ensure home owners who fall into trouble with their mortgages were protected.
The ex-president said despite popular anger that bankers had been allowed to get away with their mistakes, Ireland took the right decision to bail out its financial institutions.
“And I’m sure it made a lot of people mad because they thought we’re helping people who profited out of our misery. It was the right decision,” he told the 300 delegates at the two-day conference aimed at using the 70 million-strong global community with Irish links to boost the home economy.
The president called on the Government to get behind innovative investment ideas such as crowdsourcing, where small investors are encouraged to fund projects via the internet, and a major energy-saving retro-fitting programme for all buildings.
Mr Kenny said the gathering would not be a talking shop, but would result in concrete proposals leading to investment and jobs.
