Eugene Regan (Fine Gael)

While Senator Ó Murchú is more polite, nevertheless it still is the same attack on RTE's reporting and its objectivity in recent months. It also constitutes gutter politics even though it is more polite. When there is positive news on the economy, it is correct to report it, but the reporting by one economist on RTE of some positive news, to which I referred in the House last week, namely, the issue of competitiveness and that our exports are holding up quite well compared to other industrialised economies, which is news the Government may welcome, is not the same as balanced reporting. There has been balanced reporting on the economy by RTE, which has not talked the economy into recession. The premise of Senator Ó Murchú's entire attack and suggestion, namely, that there has been a lack of objectivity, is that we talk ourselves into recession.

Let us consider the headlines of this morning's newspapers. According to Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, the world economy may face near-stagnation for ten years, similar to Japan's lost decade. Under the headline, European Clouds Refuse to Part, the Financial Times reported on decline in industrial production across Europe. The only countries to exceed the decline in Ireland are Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine. Moreover, the Governor of the Bank of England has warned that the economy's recovery-----