LAST MONTH, THE government launched what was an obvious coordinated attack on Sinn Féin, drawing the battle lines for a general election which many people in Leinster House believe will take place next year.
Speaking in Cork, Tánaiste Joan Burton questioned whether in light of the triple Dáil suspension earlier that week, Sinn Féin would be “walking out on themselves” if in government.
It was a nice line, a bit funny even. But Taoiseach Enda Kenny struck a far more serious tone while speaking to reporters on the Isle of Man. He also appeared to squeeze out his coalition partner, saying it was all about Fine Gael versus Sinn Féin in the next general election.
“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.
No mention of Labour here – and none from his finance minister Michael Noonan, who said in a later interview with Newstalk that Sinn Féin is a “tax and spend” party and outlined the choice facing voters: either Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
Labour was probably more than a little bit miffed by its exclusion from the conversation given the burden it has shared when it comes to the heavy lifting done by government in recent years. Its poll numbers have nosedived, it has changed leaders and there doesn’t seem to have been any sustained ‘Burton Bounce’.
With an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll putting the party on 6% last week, there is talk now that not only will Labour lose seats, it might lose its Dáil representation altogether.
So the junior coalition party is very subtly letting it be known that it doesn’t agree with its government partner on everything in the hope that voters will recognise it’s not just a choice between Fine Gael or Sinn Féin.
Last Wednesday, Burton matter of factly stated that “Fine Gael as a party and the Labour party as a party are two separate parties”.
She then outlined why she believed that the best way of reducing people’s tax burden was by adjusting the tax bands rather than simply cutting the top rate.
A top rate cut has been an idea Enda Kenny has been hammering home for the last few weeks: the reason being that it’s thought voters can more easily comprehend a cut in the rate then changes to bands, even though both would leave them with a bit more money in their pockets.
But in short, both parties are agreed on the need to cut taxes, but they say they want to do it different ways.
These differences became more stark over the weekend when Burton outlined her priority to reform the Universal Social Charge which some in Labour believe should be phased out altogether.
Labour’s outspoken senator John Whelan articulated his view and that of some of his colleagues when he said yesterday:
Tinkering with the tax code will not do, the USC must go. Let no one be under any illusion on this, either the USC goes, or I go.
But on the Fine Gael side, Noonan has already said that the USC is “here to stay” and there are no indications that any radical reform of the hated tax is on the cards. Officials in the Department of Finance are particularly loath to scrap a tax that yields billions of euro in revenue every year.
Aside from the tax issues, Joan Burton has also registered her opposition to the repayment of junior bondholders in the former Anglo Irish Bank.
In an interview with RTÉ yesterday, she said that it was “completely unlikely to happen” but let it be known that she would oppose it if it did, saying she would “absolutely not” stand over repayment.
Fine Gael meanwhile is adopting an “it won’t happen” approach rather than registering any outright opposition to the possibility of it happening. Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe said this morning that he did not believe Anglo junior bondholders would be repaid.
These differences between the two parties on two key issues are subtle and cynics will say it’s all a faux row and posturing ahead of an election.
They’re probably right but there will be a lot more of this in the run-up to the vote. While we don’t definitively know when the election will take place it’s now quite clear that all parties are on a firm election footing.
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