Martin: Govt need to 'rebuild the trust their behaviour has destroyed'
The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is calling on the coalition to go back to the table and negotiate a fairer deal with public sector workers.
In his keynote address to the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis in Dublin tonight, Mr Martin says there is a fairer way to recovery and has accused Fine Gael and Labour of just "taking their turn" in government.
The speech, which was delivered to 4,000 party delegates, was also broadcast live on TV.
Martin said Ireland will come through this crisis, because of the skills and spirit of the Irish people, but he also says the government is out of touch already and has none of the urgency or ambition so badly needed.
“They keep saying the plan is working. Well unemployment is up and mortgage arrears have doubled, vital services are disappearing. If that’s what their plans look like when it’s working, what would it look like if it wasn’t?"
On the night when it emerged the government had issued new threats to public service workers on pay, the opposition leader says this is not the way to go about it. He added: “They need to get back to the negotiation table, commit to a fairer approach and rebuild the trust their behaviour has destroyed."
And he insisted that despite the promise of change, Fine Gael and Labour haven’t delivered. “They've changed the status of who drives their cars but they haven’t implemented a single significant change in how Ireland is governed.
“They said they wanted the change but actually, all they wanted was their turn.”
Martin also says the assertion by the Taoiseach Enda Kenny that the silent majority supports the government is wrong, saying there is nothing silent about the anger of the majority.
