Ireland Needs to Restore Damaged Reputation, by Brendan Keenan, Irish Independent, June 19, 2009

Ireland Needs to Restore Damaged Reputation

By Brendan Keenan
Irish Independent
June 19, 2009

http://www.independent.ie/business/european/ireland-needs-to-restore-damaged-reputation-1779348.html

AFTER the twin scandals of Anglo-Irish Bank and the Ryan report into institutional abuse, Ireland needs to restore its damaged international reputation by applying high standards of governance, a major cross-border economic conference heard yesterday.

Frances Ruane, director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said it was an "unfortunate coincidence" that the evidence of wrongdoing at Anglo and the Ryan report came so close together.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan addressing Ireland's largest first all-island economic fourm yesterday, where 120 leading Irish and international economists, economic commentators and senior policy makers gathered to consider the implications of the global slump.

"There is a real issue about restoring our reputation," she told the conference organised by InterTrade Ireland, the cross-border development body.

Opening the conference, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said there had been "a great deal of denial" about the scale of the recession.

But he believed most people now realised the very difficult position the economy was in and that tough decisions would have to be taken to deal with it.

Adam Posen, the American economist who has been nominated to join the Bank of England's interest rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, said he believed growth would soon resume in the USA -- "although I cannot sing any hymns for the euro zone".

"The US has not only probably bottomed out, but will have slightly positive growth by the end of the year and growth of around 2pc into 2011," Dr Posen said, but there was a risk of a "double-dip"in the recession .

Slower

Martin Wales, director of the National Institute for Economic and Social Research in London, thought the UK would have a slower recovery than the euro area.

"Britain faces a permanent loss of around 5pc of output. Banking will be smaller, consumption will be lower than in the recent past and investment will fall 15-20pc over the next four years. There is a one in twenty risk that UK output in 2018 will be no higher than now."

Michael Smyth, head of the School of Economics at the University of Ulster, said the Northern Ireland Executive had not "togged out" for the recession, never mind taking part in the game.

"It is not nearly as bad as the 1980s recession but the fact that it has no direct effect on the executive's budget means they do not have to take action."