THE TAOISEACH rejected a call by the Fine Gael leader for a general election if the Government does badly in next month’s elections.

“We are not electing a government on June 5th,’’ said Brian Cowen. “We are electing local authorities, and people to the European Parliament, and we are having two byelections.’’

Mr Cowen said he looked forward to engaging with the people in those campaigns.

He added that there were many people in the country who recognised that corrective measures had to be taken, and respected the Government for discharging them.

Enda Kenny said he was not sure if Ministers realised the extent of the anger on the streets.

Addressing the Taoiseach, he said: “If you believed what you said just a year ago then you have gone from hero to zero in 12 months.’’

He said Mr Cowen had no mandate for what he was doing. “You have banjaxed the economy…you have destroyed the hopes and the careers of thousands of young people…you have robbed the people of their money….’’

He asked: “If the people convict you and your Government on June 5th, are your prepared to submit yourselves to the general public in a general election?

He said that during Mr Cowen’s year in office the Lisbon referendum had been lost, the end of social partnership, three failed budgets, the lack of action on public service reform, the doubling of unemployment in 12 months.

“Looking back at that 12 months, Taoiseach, either you believed what you were telling us…and if you did it is incompetence on your behalf and on behalf of the Government…And if you misled yourself and the people, then the question is one of denial.’’

Mr Cowen said the Government’s task meant cuts in expenditure of about €4.3 billion and tax increases of about €3.8 billion.

“That level of adjustment of over €8 billion is, of course, an imposition on the country and the people of the country.

“But it is also clear that it is a necessary response…a balance between expenditure cuts and taxation measures which are necessary given the scale of the problems we face and the need to provide a sustainable path forward.’’

Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said he hoped there would not be a second anniversary as Taoiseach for Mr Cowen. “I do not know how it has been for you, Taoiseach, but it has been pretty lousy for the rest of us.’’

He said many of the almost 200,000 people who had lost their jobs did so because the businesses in which they worked could not get credit from banks.

A few weeks after becoming Taoiseach Mr Cowen said it was important to point out that, as the Central Bank had confirmed, the Irish banking system was “well capitalised and in a healthy state in terms of its own financial situation’’, the Labour leader added.

Mr Cowen accused the Labour Party of failing to support any Government initiatives on the economy. The banking system had to be stabilised. “If we had gone your road then there would not have been any credit available to anybody because there was a real prospect that financial institutions of systemic importance would have collapsed.’’

Mr Cowen said it was true that, because of the recession, demand for credit was down. It was also true there were people finding it difficult to obtain credit for viable but vulnerable businesses.

“The Minister for Finance is, on an ongoing basis, seeking to ensure that good business ideas are not denied access to some level of credit even if it is not the same amount that was available when there was more liquidity in the system....”