Lenihan falsely accuses FG of Euroscepticism

I WAS aghast to read so much anti-Fine Gael rhetoric in recent times about possible further EU scrutiny of the Irish budgetary process and taxation policies.

I was particularly surprised at Finance Minister Brian Lenihan’s comments about Fine Gael Finance Spokesman Richard Bruton.

Mr Lenihan mistakenly accuses Fine Gael and Deputy Bruton of Eurosceptism when he and Fianna Fáil know such a statement to be totally false.

Many of the challenges our country now faces stem from the fact that FF in government has been unable to keep our budget deficit below 3% of GDP as provided by the EU growth and stability pact designed and negotiated by the then Fine Gael Taoiseach John Bruton and his Minister for Enterprise and Employment Richard Bruton when Ireland held the EU Presidency in 1996.

Fine Gael has fully supported all European referenda since 1972 and is also a constituent member of the European Peoples Party (EPP) – by far the largest and most powerful political grouping in the EU. FF, on the other hand, has been unable to secure membership of the EPP, despite several attempts, and remain very much a peripheral force in EU politics.

Mr Lenihan’s derogatory comments are particularly strange since he has done relatively little to reduce our unemployment rate of 13.4% – the second highest in the EU – and our ballooning deficit of 14.3% of GDP – the highest in the EU.

Under such circumstances, we can be thankful that the European Commission has kept a watchful eye on the situation in Ireland. The commission has already curbed the worst excesses of FF’s con-job known as NAMA and has also demanded a realistic long-term business plan for Anglo Irish Bank before any further public monies can be injected into it.

Mark Wakefield

Mercier Park

Turners Cross

Cork