Enda stands by ‘mad borrowing’ claim

Enda Kenny stood over his claim that Irish people blew the boom by going on a mad borrowing spree as ministers scrambled to defend his comments.

Last night the Taoiseach also seemed to shift the blame for the collapse of the Celtic Tiger onto developers rather than the Irish people, whom he originally claimed had gone “mad with borrowing”.

Mr Kenny’s gaffe at the World Economic Forum in Davos, drew sharp criticism, with many pointing to the contrasting words in Mr Kenny’s pre-budget address last month, when he told people the economic crash was not their fault. Speaking last night at the close of his visit to the Swiss forum, he said: “When I was at home I made it perfectly clear in my state of the nation address to the people that it was not the people’s fault.”