Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Labour leader Eamon Gilmore clashed again in the Dáil today over Mr Cowen’s record as minister for finance before the economic crisis emerged.
During leaders’ questions, Mr Gilmore accused the Taoiseach of using a speech he made last week to distance himself from the crisis, and to suggest he was not to to blame for it because nobody told him "what was happening and what was coming down the track”.
But Mr Cowen robustly defended his role, saying he was “the first minister for finance in the last 20 years to actually do something in relation to property based tax incentives”.
The Labour leader cited warnings from 2003 onwards by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the OECD and other agencies during the time Mr Cowen was minister for finance.
“You got the warnings about what was happening in the property market. You got the warnings about the consequences of light regulation.”
He said Mr Cowen, in a speech last week, blamed the crisis on a “stunning failure of corporate governance" when it was, in fact, the Government's responsibility.
"It was a stunning failure of the Taoiseach. It was a stunning failure of Government and a stunning failure particularly by yourself because you were the guy in charge as minister for finance during all of that period of time.”
But the Taoiseach insisted that he always accepted his responsibilities. “Every decision I took was on the basis of a decision taken rationally at the time, based on advice and my own judgment.”
Earlier there were sharp exchanges between the Fine Gael leader and the Taoiseach on the National Asset Management Agency.
Mr Cowen said that comments by Enda Kenny represented an "awful slur" on the integrity of those running the organisation.
Mr Kenny denied Fine Gael was casting a slur. “The point is that Nama is a secretive organisation set up by you,’’ he added. “Its costs, and the costs being delivered to accountants and lawyers in there, will make the tribunals look like chicken feed the way this is proceeding.’’