Cowen gave us cause to moan

DURING his recent soiree to New York, Taoiseach Brian Cowen said Ireland has to stop “bemoaning” the fact that an economic downturn has occurred.

Irish people are bemoaning the economic situation that Mr Cowen, as Minister for Finance, and his cabinet colleagues, got them into through incompetent management.

Perhaps the new Taoiseach should have explained to that Wall Street breakfast crowd just how the government of which he was a senior member succeeded in squandering so rapidly the huge revenues generated during the Celtic Tiger boom.

For more than a decade Ireland’s economy has been the envy of the world, but what do you really have to show for it? Three successive Fianna Fáil-led governments had funds available to them that previous cabinets would have salivated at. Had Cowen and company done a better job over the past few years, the present downturn in Ireland would not be as severe as it appears will now transpire. Bertie Ahern, Cowen and colleagues spent taxpayers’ money like confetti and put nothing away for a rainy day. Ireland has a Third World infrastructure, a Third World health system and it is in the middle of a crime wave with insufficient resources to tackle it.

Children are being taught in converted toilets, others in leaking and vermin-infested prefabs, etc, and now there are insufficient funds available to remedy these problems. It is disgraceful.

In the midst of this crisis, during the Dáil adjournment, the cabinet seemed more interested in taking off on their summer holidays than engaging in a debate on how to address the situation. Yes, the problem is partially the result of global developments, but with better financial management in recent years, Ireland should have been in an excellent position to weather the storm.

Irish people have every reason to moan.

Charles D Malone

Powell Street

San Francisco

California A 94102

USA