Yes Minister

Following the appointment of local TD Brian Lenihan to the second most important post in the government – that of Minister for Finance – Community Voice invited his two party colleagues to comment on the significance of the appointment for the Dublin 15 area.
The president of Blanchardstown Chamber and the chairperson of the Dublin 15 Community Council were also invited to consider how the appointment might be of benefit to both business and community life in the area.

Joan Burton TD (Labour Party)
Labour Party deputy leader & spokesperson for Finance

Any constituency would love one of its TDs to be Minister for Finance and Dublin West is no exception. Brian Lenihan is a popular TD and his appointment is widely welcomed.

Constituents will, of course, hope and expect him to pay particular attention to local matters in his funding decisions. We don’t want any more than our share but we do want the glaring funding shortfalls in our hospital, schools and public transport provision to be addressed.

That said, the first thing we all want from him is leadership in his management of the national economy. Dublin West prospers when Ireland as a whole prospers. The funding of local investment depends on growth in the national economy and this is where he will be judged.

Brian takes the reins of the economy at a very challenging time. 1600 people are losing their jobs every week; consumer confidence is at rock bottom and the cost of living is soaring ahead of wage increases.

Dublin West is a microcosm of the Irish economy. We have seen a construction boom but now we have rising unemployment as work on building sites, in shops and factories dries up. Our future prosperity depends on investment in infrastructure such as public transport, education at all levels and quality health services.

As Labour’s Finance spokesperson, I promise Brian many robust Question Time sessions. His party had it easy as the economy boomed. Now they have to prove their mettle in tougher times.

I will be happy to cooperate, as always, with Brian on local issues and I wish him well in his new post.

Leo Varadkar TD
Fine Gael spokesperson for Enterprise, Trade and Employment

On a personal level, I congratulate Brian Lenihan on his appointment as Minister for Finance. This is the second most important job in government and while many aspire to it, few have the opportunity or honour to hold it.

Brian Cowen has left his colleague with a real mess. A surplus of €2 billion has been transformed into a borrowing requirement of €7 billion, unemployment is at its highest in eight years and rising and public spending is increasing six times faster than the economy is growing. To prevent the downturn becoming a slump, Brian Lenihan will have to work quickly to restore competitiveness and bring day-to-day spending under control. He cannot make Dublin 15 an exception and it would be unreasonable to expect him to do so.

However, he can do things that make economic sense. For a start, he should give back his €30,000 pay increase. He can ensure that National Development Plan projects are not cut back such as the Sports Campus, the N3-N4 link, Metro West, the electrification of our train line and planned investment in education (e.g. the refurbishment of Coolmine Community School). He can also put a stop to tolling on the M50 and reverse the service cuts at Connolly Hospital which are a false saving.

Brian Lenihan has four years to prove that he is as good as he thinks he is. If he does not, he should move on.

Maura Cassidy
President, Blanchardstown Chamber

On behalf of the council and members of the Blanchardstown Chamber I would like to congratulate Brian Lenihan on his appointment as Minister for Finance. Not only is it a great honour for Brian, it is also a great boost for the Blanchardstown area to have a such a senior cabinet minister from the area.

The Blanchardstown area has been very successful in attracting large multi-national companies but with a global economic downturn predicted it is imperative that everything is done to ensure their future and we look forward to working with the Minister to achieve this. It is also very important that local SME's receive the support they need to continue to operate in such a competitive environment and we would ask the Minister to bear this in mind when he is preparing his first budget.

We also look forward to working with the Minister on public transport and social order issues which have such an impact on the area.

We wish Minister Lenihan well in his new role which we know is a challenging one.

Charlie Kurtz
Chairperson, Dublin 15 Community Council

On behalf of the Dublin 15 Community Council I would like to extend to Brian Lenihan our sincere congratulations on his tremendous achievement in attaining the position as the Minister for Finance.

Brian has gone from strength to strength since entering the Dáil in 1996 and his political ability and his skill in handling his various government responsibilities to date has greatly impressed many seasoned political commentators.

The Minister now effectively controls the ‘purse strings’ of the country at a time when we require careful and deft handling of the nation’s financial resources. To survive the current international finance and property crises we need to shift elements of our own economic policy to assist the emergence and growth of indigenous, high value knowledge based enterprises. This can best be achieved by investing heavily in education (from primary to third level – in particular the sciences) and ensuring heavy investment in research & development.

In parallel we need to reduce our excessive dependency on property and construction related activity levels and seek to keep them to more normal internationally accepted levels – this would help to moderate property prices and free up capital and investment funds for more sustainable and long term growth in other areas of economic activity.

As Brian Cowen, stated at his homecoming in Offaly last weekend – “we serve the community.” I would like to see the new Minister for Finance encourage greater emphasis on delivering government policies which underpin the formation and sustainment of communities. I would like to see the delivery of educational facilities in a timely and appropriate manner, together with other elements of community and social infrastructure such as transport and health facilities.

Finally, we wish Brian every success in his new role and no doubt he will continue to serve Dublin West with distinction.

 

Community Voice, Media House, Church Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15
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