TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY has said that the next general election is shaping up as a choice between Fine Gael and Sinn Féin and has told people to “reflect on that very carefully”.
Kenny was speaking in the Isle of Man on a day when Tánaiste Joan Burton and Finance Minister Michael Noonan also took direct aim at Sinn Féin’s prospects in Government.
“The choice will be between Fine Gael and a group, possibly led by Sinn Féin, and I think people need to reflect on that very carefully,” Kenny told reporters.
Do they want responsibility and prosperity and growth and jobs in Government or do they want a Government put together that has the potential to absolutely wreck every economic advance that we’ve made?
Speaking in Cork today, Burton pointedly blamed yesterday’s triple Dáil suspension on Sinn Féin and asked, “were they in Government would they be walking out on themselves?”
But Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has this evening directly responded to the Taoiseach’s comments saying the Government have “stumbled from one debacle to another”.
“Their policies have been rejected and the Government now faces widespread public anger,” Adams claimed.
Government support has now been eroded beyond the point where they can claim a mandate for what they are doing. The Taoiseach should allow citizens to make a choice. He should resign and call a general election.
“The next election will be about the direction our society takes. Will it be more austerity and bad politics by the conservative parties or do we grasp the opportunity for new politics,” Adams added.
Noonan also held two separate media interviews today in which he spoke of the choices the Irish public will face next time round.
“If you’re looking at the choices that are emerging for the electorate, the best way to see the differential is the attitude to taxation. The Government is using taxation to bed down recovery,” he told RTÉ Six One News.
Fine Gael and Sinn Féin are running neck and neck at 22% according to the latest opinion polls with an election slated to be held before April 2016 at the latest.
First posted at 8.43pm
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