The Government's economic plan, "The Way Forward" makes assumptions about output and export growth, which are entirely unrealistic. It avoids almost all the difficult political decisions on economic management including how the budget deficit is going to be reduced drastically next year and it neglects consideration of basic issues related to the economy.
One sector of the Irish economy is booming. Recession notwithhstanding, there was a 76% increase in sales of new apartments in Ireland from 1980 to 1981. The bouyancy of the market meant that whereas £17 million worth of apartments had been sold in '80, exactly twice that figure's worth were sold in '81. Likeewise 1981 saw an increase in new apartment starts - in '80, 342 were started, in '81 787 was the figure.
The country is on the brink of economic and social collapse and yet the obsessive topic of conversation over the past few weeks has been an issue far removed from the country's primary interest and often exaggerated beyond all proportion or relationship with reality.
The country is about to face its severest crisis since Independence.
This is shaping up as the worst in a series of bad years for the tourist industry - probably the most disappointing since 1972 when tourists were scared away by IRA violence. The problem is not so much the numbers of visitors, but the fact that inflation combined with world recession means that those who still take holidays will spend less money.
When representatives of the Clondalkin Paper Mills Action Committee went to Leinster House to meet Charlie Haughey on June 24 they were angry, A report commissioned by the Cabinet had indicated three weeks earlier that should the mill reopen it would do so three months later than promised and with a ninth of the previous workforce. To the workers who had occupied the mill since its closure on January 22 it seemed that Fianna Fail's pre-election promises were being reneged.
AnCo, business
An inoperable productivity deal has cost AnCo at least £200,000 - a result of bungled negotiations which date back to 1972. The Federaated Workers Union of Ireland negotiaated a lump sum payment of between £1,300 and £3,000 for 100 of its members in return for, as yet, nothing. AnCo management is currently and anxiously awaiting the trade union ressponse to a Labour Court recommendaation on the deal.
There is no doubt, however, that farmers get the rough end of the stick from the EMS. Our farm prices are fixed in central European figures, and do not fluctuate so long as we are steady in the EMS.
Some devaluation of the punt is now seen as a real possibility by monetary strategists within the EEC commission. Such a devaluation is, however, likely to be small - probably not greater than five per cent. It could come within weeks, or perhaps not for six months.
Devaluation could give a significant boost to profitability output and employment in the open sectors of the Irish Economy.