TÁNAISTE EAMON Gilmore said the Government hoped to execute some of the Croke Park public sector reforms this summer, adding that measures in the agreement would be embraced in the comprehensive spending review.
Arriving in Luxembourg for a meeting of EU foreign ministers, Mr Gilmore said the review would continue through the summer to identify where spending can be cut.
As the IMF lowered its growth forecast for Ireland, he said it was not the case that a reduction in the Department of Finance forecast was inevitable but acknowledged that the economy would not recover overnight.
Although there is little sign of progress in the Irish campaign to take corporate tax off the agenda in talks on the bailout interest rate, the Tánaiste expressed the view that the Government is winning the argument with its European partners.
“There’s a job of work to be done to rebuild Ireland’s reputation within Europe, a job of work to be done to rebuild Ireland’s reputation internationally and to rebuild the reputation among investors,” he said.
The Tánaiste meets EU ambassadors to Ireland on Friday as part of a diplomatic campaign to restore the State’s standing with its partners. He said he would set out “the various Government decisions that have been made” and its economic strategy.
While Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said last weekend that the Government was willing to “explore alternatives” to a concession on corporate tax in return for lower interest on bailout loans, Mr Gilmore said there was no specific proposal on the table right now and nothing in the works.
“We’re not going to concede on the corporate tax rate, that is clear, and the Government has made that position absolutely clear.”
The Government was also “very clearly determined” to ensure the Croke Park agreement reforms came about, he said. The Minister replied “hopefully” when asked if any measures could be taken this summer. “If it is possible to identify reforms and to identify savings that can be made in the short term that will be done,” he said.
Asked which particular reforms he had in mind, Mr Gilmore said each department would examine their expenditure programmes.
While Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin said the community must understand the country is “in a dreadful bind”, Mr Gilmore said the Irish people recognised the difficulty of the economic situation.
“Throughout the country I think there is a very real recognition of the economic difficulties that we have, the financial difficulty that we have.
“And more than that I also think that there’s a willingness on the part of people to play their part in bringing about recovery and what they want to see Government doing is leading that from the front. That’s what we’re doing.”
The IMF growth projection for Ireland was “just one” of a number of forecasts, Mr Gilmore said.
“We’ve inherited a big economic difficulty and what we have to do is to work our way out of it and that’s what the Government is focused on, working our way out of the economic difficulty that we have found ourselves in,” he said.
