Taoiseach defends 'mad borrowing' comments
Friday, January 27, 2012 - 06:00 PM
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has responded to criticism of remarks he made yesterday, when he blamed Ireland's economic collapse on a "mad borrowing frenzy".
Opposition parties criticised the comments made at The World Economic Forum, calling them outrageous, but Government Ministers and TDs today defended Mr Kenny.
Speaking on TV3 News this evening, the Taoiseach made it clear what he believes caused the country's current economic situation.
"I made it perfectly clear in my State of The Nation address to the people that it was not the people's fault," said Deputy Kenny.
"Yesterday, in a panel discussion with the Danish Prime Minister and the Finnish Prime Minister, I set in context what happened in Ireland.
"We had very poor regulation, you had incompetent Government, you had a system in the banking regime that paid big bonuses on volume lending which meant that developers, in the sense of buying and proposing schemes that could never be paid for by people, brought our country over the edge."
