REACTION:FINE GAEL leader Enda Kenny has said the Taoiseach's poor radio interview two days ago served to intensify the State's problems and further undermined Ireland's international credibility.
Mr Kenny also said his transport spokesman Simon Coveney merely reflected the view of hundreds of thousands of Irish people when he claimed that Brian Cowen sounded “half way between drunk and hung-over” during the live RTÉ broadcast.
“My comment is not about this [interview], it’s about Brian Cowen’s leadership of his Government, which has failed utterly to deal with the problems of this country and which was exacerbated by yesterday’s interview which was responded to by hundreds of thousands of people,” he said.
“If Brian Cowen says that he is sorry or whatever, what he should be saying is that he is sorry for his conduct as leader of a Government that has failed utterly to live up to its responsibilities.”
Mr Kenny was speaking last night in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of Fine Gael’s European political group in advance of an EU summit today.
“The problem here is not just based on one interview, it is the failure of this Taoiseach to communicate his Government’s strategy and their agenda to sort out our problems over a long period,” he said.
“And my problem, let me repeat this, is a problem with Brian Cowen as Taoiseach not just based on this interview, it is based on his performance as Taoiseach and as minister for finance in failing to live up for what the Irish people gave them when they trusted them in the ballot box.”
Although Mr Kenny insisted he was not in the business of attacking his opponents over radio interviews, he said the furore over the broadcast was not caused by Mr Coveney. “Simon Coveney was not responsible for this. His comment was a personal comment which was issued 20 minutes after thousands of messages and comments were flying around by the Irish people.”
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said: “The Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil have been doing damage to this country for some time and that damage is not based on any one interview or on any one day.”
Speaking at his party’s meeting in Roscommon, he added: “If you look at what has been happening over the past couple of weeks there has been an accumulation of bad press for this country internationally.
“The results of that are reflected in the higher cost of borrowing for the country which is affecting us all. I think there is a sense in the international community now that not only does Ireland have zombie banks but we also have a zombie government and the sooner we get it out of office the better.”