Back in November I linked to A Fair Deal: Fighting Poverty and Exclusion that had just been released by the Labour Party. There were elements of the document that I found very positive but I pointed out that there were missed opportunities to develop a more rigorous critique of the Celtic Tiger economic model. Yesterday's speech by Pat Rabbitte has now begun, albeit cautiously and tentatively, that much needed critique. Rabbitte paints a picture of a government that provides no real leadership and fails to keep the economy on a sustainable path of development. "If we still had the Irish pound, the financial markets would be selling the national currency and telling the government in no uncertain terms what they think of its economic management".
We are now, says Rabbitte, living in a country that is producing more than it is consuming and government failure is manifest in the lack of a strategy to maintain competitiveness, to develop the country's innovation capacity and to provide the right infrastructure in the right places at a cost which will attract good investment.
It is my determination that a government for change will continue to lay out in economic strategy, as in other areas, clear decisions and objectives on our targets - for budget parameters, the structure of taxation, a pension system which will guarantee a decent basic income for everyone, and provide a fair cost- effective way of enhancing that income, lifelong training for workers, the development of science and technology and the creation of an advanced telecommunications network.
Towards the end of his speech Rabbitte refers to the "typical analysis of Irish society today concludes that we have a strong economy and a weak society" and goes on about the lack of adequate social provision with all the citizen dissatisfaction associated with such failures. So far so familiar. But then he takes the argument one very important step further:
I am saying that we cannot take as given that we will continue to have a strong economy. We have for a decade and a half enjoyed extraordinary economic expansion. But there are fragilities in that performance and we cannot be complacent - and government is complacent to the level of smugness - that the old paradigm will continue to work for us. Anybody who chooses to examine our falling exports will reach the same conclusion.
I'm a little amused here because the 'strong economy, weak society' couplet, which he now characterises as conventional wisdom, was very much his own in his previous speeches. His criticisms of government economic policy are couched in reasonable and moderate language. He is concerned about potential difficulties with borrowing and the balance of payments. Nevertheless it's a significant advance in that Rabbitte has now cleared some ground where he can begin to advance a position on the economy that will reflect and address the economic insecurity of the hard pressed salariat, Labour's targetted floating voters, as well as dealing with poverty and exclusion.
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