UNION REACTION:THE €85 billion bailout plan for Ireland should have been announced in Lourdes because "short of a miracle, it is doomed to failure", Siptu general president Jack O'Connor said last night.
He said it was clear why the four-year plan unveiled last week provided for no investment in the economy from the national pension reserve fund. “The fund was earmarked to be poured into the black hole that the Irish banking system has become,” he said.
He branded the agreement between the Government, the EU and the IMF a shameful indictment of the right-wing policies that informed the Government’s approach for the last 13 years and which now dominate thinking in European Union institutions.
“The position now is that the national recovery plan must fly on a wing and a prayer with no provision for investment, nothing for job creation, and no mechanism to generate growth.
“Meanwhile, the senior bank bondholders are to be protected while the lowest paid and those most vulnerable people dependant on public provision are to be crucified,” he added.
Employers’ body Ibec welcomed the details of the plan saying it provided much-needed certainty around Ireland’s public finances and the path to recovery.
Its director general Danny McCoy said the structure of the loans meant there was a strong incentive for Ireland to return to the bond markets as quickly as possible.
“This can only be done by demonstrating to international markets our capacity to deliver strong economic growth. This must now be the priority. It is vital that the necessary conditions are put in place to ensure that business can get on with what it does best, driving growth and creating jobs,” he said.