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Editorial: Taoiseach should put a sock in it

November 8th, 2015 10:14 AM

By Southern Star Team

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If the opposition parties want help in trying to consign Enda Kenny’s government to the dustbin of history, they could hardly have wished for any better assistance than they are currently getting from the man himself. 

IF the opposition parties want help in trying to consign Enda Kenny’s government to the dustbin of history, they could hardly have wished for any better assistance than they are currently getting from the man himself. His regaling of delegates in front of a large press contingent at the recent European People’s Party (EPP) conference in Madrid with a story about how the Governor of the Central Bank allegedly told him that Ireland was on the verge of bringing in the army to prevent a run on the banks when he first came into office in 2011 has proven to be a tall tale that took great liberties with the truth for the sake of making an entertaining anecdote out of it.

The Taoiseach’s intention was obviously to make himself seem like some kind of knight in shining armour who rescued the country from imminent doom, perpetuating Ireland’s international image as the poster boys for how to stage an economic recovery. The reality is that the prescription for curing our economic ills had already been written by the EU-IMF-ECB troika for the previous administration before Mr Kenny took over the reins of power with his coalition government, who then dutifully followed ‘Frankfurt’s way,’ albeit with a few favourable tweaks to the terms and conditions that eased the immediate burden a little.

What the Taoiseach should remember before he next tries to romanticise our economic recovery, and the role he played in it, for his own international aggrandisement is that the people of this country were the ones who made the sacrifices and paid the price. They are not fools. 

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