Politics

Noel Dempsey ‘haunted’ by decisions taken during crisis

Former minister says Ireland has not learned lessons and risks repeating mistakes

Former minister for transport Noel Dempsey (right) and minister for justice Dermot Ahern speaking to reporters about the economic crisis in November 2010. Mr Dempsey said on Saturday he was not aware the country was preparing to enter a bailout at that time. Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times
Former minister for transport Noel Dempsey (right) and minister for justice Dermot Ahern speaking to reporters about the economic crisis in November 2010. Mr Dempsey said on Saturday he was not aware the country was preparing to enter a bailout at that time. Photograph: Frank Miller/The Irish Times
Ciarán D'Arcy
Sat Oct 24 2015 - 13:24

Former Fianna Fáil minister Noel Dempsey said he is haunted by decisions taken by the Cabinet at the time of the economic collapse and believes Ireland has not learned from the experience.

The party's ex minister for transport said he wishes he had retired prior to the 2007 general election, and admitted that the subsequent Fianna Fáil-Green Party coalition made decisions that were "horrendous for people".

"Those three years [2008-2011]were horrendous for everybody. Decisions that I was involved in and partaking in were horrendous for people," he told RTÉ Radio, alluding to a series of budgets which raised taxes and heralded billions of euro in spending cuts.

Former minister for transport Noel Dempsey who said he is haunted by decisions taken by the Cabinet at the time of the economic collapse. Photograph: The Irish Times
Former minister for transport Noel Dempsey who said he is haunted by decisions taken by the Cabinet at the time of the economic collapse. Photograph: The Irish Times

“There isn’t a day that passes that that doesn’t, in some form or another, come back... to haunt [me].

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He revealed he had no idea that bailout negotiations with the Troika were ongoing despite assertions to the contrary made by him and cabinet colleague Dermot Ahern during an infamous 2010 interview, and said he felt "livid" with minister for finance at the time Brian Lenihan for not keeping the pair informed.

“The one thing that we had to try and avoid was saying ‘we’re going into a bailout’ without knowing what was involved in that.

“There was nobody either in the political system, in the civil service, or apparently in the banking or regulatory authorities that knew exactly where everything was or what was going on.

“[Brian Lenihan] hadn’t the absolute trust in anything he was being told, probably by anybody, because he felt nobody knew the full picture, and I think that was a fair enough assessment,” he said.

Asked if the country, and the current Fine Gael-Labour Coalition in particular, had learned lessons from that period Mr Dempsey replied “I don’t think we have”.

The former minister for local government also defended the ill-fated introduction of electronic voting machines which cost the taxpayer €54 million but were only ever used once, and took a thinly-veiled stab at his ministerial successor Martin Cullen who "tried to push [the scheme] out too hard".

Reflecting on an incident when protesters attempted to spray-paint the word traitor across the front of his Meath constituency office in 2010, he said it caused “devastation” to both him and his family but quipped about the stunt’s poor execution.

“It wasn’t even spelled correctly... I’m hoping it wasn’t an ex-pupil of mine.”

Proportional representation (PR) remains the best option for voting in Ireland, but the current Irish electoral system of multi-seat constituencies continues to foster “all that’s bad” in politics according to Mr Dempsey.

“I agree with PR, but I don’t agree with multi-seat constituencies. It just fosters clientelism, it fosters parochialism, it fosters all that’s bad in politics.

“The system that we have of electing people doesn’t foster good policy-making, it fosters a situation where you’re going to look after individuals rather than the broader picture.”