Ireland expects - the UK hopes
Source:Editor's Blog
With all the seats in the 30th Dáil now filled Fianna Fáil party leader Bertie Aherne is ready to enter a third term in power.
Bertie Aherne is 27 seats ahead of Fine Gael, with Labour the next largest party on 20.
Aherne's pro-business government has promoted Ireland as a low-tax magnet for American investment and European immigration for the past decade, but the results show that there is some frustration with the Taoiseach’s less than stellar performance on state-funded services, including schools and hospitals.
He’s still in an overall minority, and the shape of the next coalition may decide whether Ireland will continue on the path towards economic growth as a priority or change direction towards a continental Europe model of social safeguards, public transport and higher taxes.
Meanwhile in the UK it is heartening to see that, according to KPMG, business optimism is increasing. The Bank of England has been steadily raising interest rates to 5.5 percent to slow inflation and there were fears this would have hurt consumer demand and profit, and the worry about interest rates is reflected in KPMG’s survey published today. Nevertheless, "It appears that those who felt the pinch over the last year or two have now steadied the ship and are looking forward to the next 12 months with a renewed sense of optimism.”
I’d very much like to know how anyone could express optimism (as opposed to pious hope) at the tail end of a Labour government that may be seriously challenged at the next election for the first time in a decade, and no idea at all in which direction we are about to be led Gordon Brown. Did KPMG issue rose coloured spectacles to the SMEs it polled?
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