It’s time to walk a very fine line - A month of record exports

YESTERDAY’S CSO figures showing that the value of Ireland’s export trade climbed an all-time high in April will add considerable momentum to the idea that we are economically, finally, out of the woods.

Provisional figures show seasonally adjusted exports for April rose by €989 million — or 12% — to €9.3bn. This swing represented the highest monthly figure since these records were established. The primary driver was a €1.05bn — 63% — increase in exports of medical and pharmaceutical products, which reached €2.7bn.

Just as every cloud has a silver lining, every dawn has a few of the coldest moments of the entire day, so the temptation to party like it was 2005 must be resisted.

The Governmnet has begun the process of “pay restoration” in the public sector and some private sector workers are arguing for pay rises. The coalition partners are, apparently, arguing about where newfound revenue will be spent, whether the most vulnerable of all ages or pensioners will be the first to enjoy budetary largesse.

This is entirely natural and overdue but it would be treasonable if we forgot the hard lessons of the last eight years and greeted the upturn with the kind of abandon and delusion that caused the crisis in the first place.

Government must walk a very fine line between spending too much too soon and trying to buy their way back to power.