TAOISEACH'S COMMENTS:IN HIS opening words to delegates at the Fianna Fáil Ardfheis, Taoiseach Brian Cowen paid a tribute to the party's coalition partners, the Green Party, and to Independent TDs who have supported the Government since the May 2007 election.
“The Green Party is making a strong and distinct contribution to the work of this administration and I appreciate the commitment at the Cabinet table of Ministers Gormley and Ryan,” Mr Cowen said.
Equally, he expressed appreciation for the role played by the Progressive Democrats – which is to wind up shortly after 24 years in existence, and in particular to Minister for Health and Children Mary Harney.
“The Progressive Democrats have a long track record of service to this country.
“I look forward to continuing to work with Mary Harney to deliver progress for our people,” he told delegates.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the conference opening, Mr Cowen gave no indication that he would accede to pressure to introduce an emergency budget to deal with the financial crisis.
“We had our Budget back in September, October because of the seriousness of the issues arising.
“The Minister for Finance has outlined our position this week. We just enacted legislation that will provide another €2 billion in savings.
“We were opposed in that by the Opposition, but, obviously, we are prepared to work with everyone in the national interest,” he said as he arrived at the ardfheis in Dublin.
“This is a very serious situation that we face. I think in the first month of the financial year we have to monitor the situation carefully going forward.”
The ardfheis, he said, was an opportunity to articulate to the public and to Fianna Fáil delegates the Government’s determination “to deal with the issues that arise”, and “to put in context the reasons why these problems have arisen”.
He said both he and other Fianna Fáil members of the Cabinet will, during the course of today’s sessions, “show that Fianna Fáil and our colleagues in Government will address the issues that are arising”.
