Results 9,301-9,320 of 19,445 for speaker:Brian Cowen

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: Quite the opposite in fact.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: Slagging?

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: I am accused by Deputy Gilmore of political slagging, but I am defending the record of this Government, which has a strong record to defend.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: That is the first point. The second point is about the idea that I would not listen. When a correction was needed in 2001 and 2002 we were told by the Opposition that we should battle on and not make any adjustments or corrections. The Opposition was wrong on that because the economy bounced back far more quickly. We did not listen either when the Opposition said that not alone were we...

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: I am responding, as a matter of fact, to what has consistently been the Opposition's policy position. It has been about the fact that we have not been spending enough, not that we have been spending too much.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: That has been the Opposition's position. The Deputy then went on to make the point about the property situation. I was the Minister who brought in the elimination of the tax breaks over time so that——

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: ——those breaks were not unlimited or available in all respects. I was the Minister who introduced that measure in response to the change that was coming in the property market. The Opposition — before, during and since the last budget debate and certainly in the run up to the 2007 election — was saying that we should cut stamp duty by a greater amount so that we could raise prices....

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: I accept full responsibility in respect of everything I have done in public life——

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: ——which has always been motivated by the public interest. Can the Opposition tell me anybody, any finance house, any economic forecaster who did not say——

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: Last December, the ESRI suggested the growth in the economy this year would be 2.7%. They were the most pessimistic.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: The Central Bank said it would be 3.5%.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: I brought in a budget that put out a growth profile of 3%, which was the median. So there was nobody, including Deputy Quinn, who suggested — obviously no one could predict — the outcome we have seen during the course of this year as regards the international climate that has developed.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: Nobody saw it, but that is not to suggest in any way that I avoid my responsibilities — quite the contrary. However, I will not accept the contention from the parties opposite that there were people at the end of last year, coming in to frame a budget, who suggested that we would not have growth rates of at least 2.7% this year.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: That was in the aftermath of the sub-prime issue that arose in the United States the previous August. Let us be fair and honest in getting the facts out on the floor.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: The situation now is that, as a result of the hard landing that has come to the residential property market, it is imposing a fiscal drag of 4% on what would otherwise be a growing economy. We have to deal with that situation now. When people talk about the need for more housing, they have a lot to say about those who are involved in property markets, but that industry employed 250,000...

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: What we must do now is off-set the reduced activity in residential housing. This Government is bringing forward a substantial public capital programme next year and we will see an increased expenditure in our capital programme, for example, for education, in all of our efforts to find off-sets because of the reduced activity in residential housing, not to the extent that it will compensate...

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: I do not accept for a moment what Deputy Gilmore suggests, that I should in some way walk away from the achievements of Government in the past or that I should walk away from taking responsibility for the position I now hold, which I gladly take on. I take it on with the same sense of duty as he would if he were in this position.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: I do not accept the characterisation that Deputy Gilmore puts on matters. I have no intention of giving a history lesson. We are looking here to the present and to the future, and that is certainly what we will be concentrating on in the coming days and weeks. However, for the purpose of not allowing statements to pass as if they should be passed for fact, the fact of the matter is, first,...

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: We are facing into this coming year with increased unemployment, which I do not welcome.

Leader's Questions (14 Oct 2008)

Brian Cowen: We must see what we can do to deal with that, and the Minister for Finance will outline in the budget certain efforts to improve the business climate as well. All of that is true. We will be in a more difficult position next year than this year.