PRESS RELEASE18/05/2003 One year on Fianna Fáil secures our future through prudent management of the economy.
The concerted campaign by the opposition claiming we mislead the voters is not true. Unlike Fine Gael, Labour and the Greens, who made endless unachievable election promises, we were frank about the changed circumstances facing the country and warned of the difficult waters that had to be chartered. Since the election we have worked consistently towards the objective of ensuring Ireland is the best placed economy to avail of a global recovery. The voters elected us to do that when they rejected the panic driven alternatives, which would have squandered the progress we have made and destroyed confidence. It is an irony that those who criticise us for breaking promises are the very critics who condemned us during the election for not making enough promises. Our priority now is to consolidate and to build on the progress we have achieved so far. We have ended forced emigration. We have achieved historically low levels of unemployment. We have reduced the national debt to the second lowest in the EU. We have achieved record growth in our economy and we have reformed our taxation system. While the opposition continues to recklessly talk down our economic progress we remain focused on protecting the jobs we have already created and laying the groundwork for jobs that can be created in the future. Internationally Ireland is doing well and we must not forget that. The challenge is to consolidate our achievements and Fianna Fáil is committed to achieving this. Our refusal to take the soft option and put the country into crippling debt is the right thing for the short term, the medium and the long term. |