Fine Gael said last night it would back the Government's four year economic strategy to reduce the deficit, but insisted it favoured cutting spending rather than raising taxes.
The party’s communications spokesman Leo Varadkar told the Dublin Economics Workshop in Kenmare last night that his party is committed to reducing Ireland’s deficit to 3 per cent of GDP by 2014.
Outlining his party’s plans to address the deficit, he said Fine Gael favoured a reduction plan that is three parts spending cuts and one part tax increases.
"Savings in public spending do less damage to the economic growth and employment than tax increases," he said. "Increasing taxes is the easy political option but it is not the right one.
"Cuts, tax increases and retrenchment alone will not resolve Ireland’s economic crisis. Indeed, they could push Ireland deeper into recession," he said. "That’s why we need a four year growth plan as well as a four year budget deficit plan."
Mr Varadkar said Fine Gael, if elected to government, would adopt an economic policy based on four main pillars. These are restoring the public finances; restoring growth; restoring competitiveness and restoring faith in the system.
He said Ireland is at a critical moment in its history and risks losing all the gains made since independence.
“Ireland is in crisis,” he told the conference. “The banking sector is bust, we have the largest budget deficit in the world, this weekend the national debt will break the €90 billion mark, unemployment is rising and, next year, we could face the loss of our national sovereignty if we find that the markets are not open to us when we return for the them seeking money in January.”
Fine Gael also indicated that it plans to publish proposals on reforming the public service, which
includes dismantling of the Health Service Executive.