TAOISEACH Brian Cowen last night promised to cap the salaries of bank chief executives and committed his government to providing €100m this year to support exporting companies.

In his first ardfheis speech as party leader, Cowen also announced that a new financial regulatory system, based on the Canadian model, would be established and that the new bank regulator would have an “international reputation”. He stated that the government had to raise taxes to close the €18bn gap between spending and revenue. “Our tax system needs to change. During the good times, we developed a fairer and more progressive tax system that allowed people to keep more of their money.

“Unfortunately, we are not a thriving economy for now, and we need to adapt our tax system to fit our new circumstances. Everyone will need to pay more. Through this combination of higher taxes and increased cuts in spending, we will restore our public finances to stability by 2013.” Stating his determination to “get this country back on track”, Cowen acknowledged that “recessions are tough”; “they hurt people” and “create anxiety”.

The two key challenges facing the country were how to cope with the short crisis we are in and how best to plan for the best possible future. A critical step in our recovery was to sort out public finances and he said it was important for people to realise the scale of the challenge we are facing.

As first revealed in the Sunday Tribune two weeks ago, Cowen said the new regulatory system will involve the creation of a new Central Banking Commission, that will incorporate both the responsibilities of the Central Bank and the supervision of the banking and financial sector. Within the new commission, Cowen said he “will appoint a new head of banking regulation with an international reputation”. Triumphant cheers greeted the news that banks receiving government aid will face a salary cap for their chief executives. In a speech that never once criticised opposition parties, Cowen said the government needed to “protect our native businesses to the greatest extent possible”. At the next cabinet meeting, he said, the government will approve the setting up of €100m Enterprise Stabilisation Fund to be run by Enterprise Ireland.

“The aim of the fund is to support viable, but vulnerable, exporting companies who, but for this recession, would be thriving”. Cowen talked about how the nation needs to have a new attitude, “what I call New Thinking”. He emotionally said, “It is the greatest honour of my life to lead this Republic,” and ended with the line, “There is a future to be fought for and I will lead that fight.”

On what transport minister Noel Dempsey termed “One of the most important nights in Fianna Fáil’s history,” he gave one of the most passionate speeches of the weekend ahead of Cowen.

He accused bankers of “reckless endangerment” of our nation and said their acts have caused damage to the country that has not been seen since Cromwell. Dempsey got a standing ovation when he said he was “fed up to here [with his hand to his head] with cheap assumptions about members of this party” who are “not guilty by association”.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also got a standing ovation when he was introduced to the packed room 30 minutes before Cowen’s entrance.